Thinking Requires Thought [Rethink 1]

Philosophy consists of contemplation and questions aimed at understanding humanity and the world. Let us move toward becoming a human being who thinks again.

Human, the Thinking Animal

Looking back on a day, sometimes it passes in a daze, and often what fills our minds isn't "thought" so much as worry, anxiety, depression, and unease. These two may look similar at first glance, but they're actually quite different. Worry and anxiety are thoughts that circle the same spot, having lost direction; genuine "thinking," in the true sense, is reflection moving toward somewhere. Thought that drifts without direction becomes anxiety; thought with direction becomes contemplation.

In daily life, we're often too swamped by other tasks to have room to think — burdened with roles at home and in society, mountains of things to do, countless hobbies, and endless things to watch in modern society, so the activity of "thinking" only ever seems tedious and complicated.

Aristotle identified the capacity for rational thought and judgment as an essential attribute of human beings. He defined humans as "rational animals" and "political animals," seeing them not merely as beings that think, but as beings that think and judge together with others. Recently, it has been discovered that animals also think to some degree, leading some to view this definition as incomplete — but it remains, without doubt, a crucial element in defining human nature.

Humans possess the capacity to think, but if we don't use it, we're no different from animals. Struggling to survive is something animals do too, and valuing oneself above others when it comes to survival is likewise no different. Put coldly, humans are merely animals with the capacity to think. Whether or not we use that capacity is the fork in the road that determines our humanity.

Setting aside the difference between humans and animals, today's world is also full of people who are "clueless" and "thoughtless." Of course, that standard can be excessively subjective. To someone who argues A, a person arguing B will look that way, and to someone who argues B, a person arguing A will look that way. What, then, should we call "having concepts" or "having thought"?

That's why we need to "examine" and "listen." We must examine what is right and wrong, why someone made a certain claim, and what grounds support that claim. And to do this, we need to listen, and sometimes we need to look at things from the other person's standpoint. Doing so lets us grasp the core of the other's argument, and sometimes reveals that a person is really saying one thing in order to get at something else entirely.

Once this kind of reflection becomes habitual, we naturally move on to more fundamental questions. Through this process, we come to understand not just "right/wrong" but "why we think this way." This activity of the mind is what truly deserves to be called "thinking."

Losing Your Way to Find Yourself [Book Introduction]

This book invites readers into the timeless questions that define human existence — “Who am I?”, “Why was I born?”, and “Why must I live?” For those who carry deep and restless questions, Losing Your Way to Find Yourself offers a moment of quiet contemplation — a pause between one step and the next.

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Thinking About Thinking

The depth and dimension of thought also change depending on "what" we think about — that is, the "object" of thought. Thinking about work at the office or about daily life is also thinking, but to build the strength of thought — and further, to change the manner and direction of thinking — we need to think about things that are more essential, higher-dimensional, and abstract.

The objects of thought that philosophy speaks of are things like these: Am I living well? What does it mean to live well? What kind of person am I? What is the standard for "good"? Are the things we call "bad" really all bad? Can the things I consider correct answers truly be the answer? Why must I live this way? Why was humanity born? How should we live? What is the right choice? Does happiness truly exist?

This is also why philosophy is needed. And yet today, philosophical reflection is growing more and more distant from everyday life. It's often narrowed into the domain of specialized academia, or consumed lightly as the language of self-help. Especially now, we live in an age where AI thinks on our behalf. One search, one question, and almost any answer can be obtained with ease.

But can that answer truly be called "my own thought"? The more we delegate thinking to tools, the more our ability to ask ourselves what we actually want and how we want to live quietly atrophies. That's precisely why it has become even more urgent now to reflect on where humanity's civilization is heading, and where my own life is headed.

Of course, not thinking doesn't make one any less human, and thinking doesn't automatically make one a better human being either. But thought is "hard work," and a "hard-won habit." Even if we're born as beings capable of thought, if we don't consciously train that capacity, it gradually atrophies. Just as a muscle weakens when unused, thought grows dull when unused.

So how can thinking be turned into a habit? No grand method is required. Writing a short journal entry at the end of the day, reading a page of a book and asking yourself "is this really true?", or having a serious conversation with someone — these alone are enough. Thinking doesn't belong only to special people; it belongs to those who consciously pause.

To become a better version of ourselves, a better human being, we must be able to think deeply. But perhaps we don't even need such a grand reason. It's enough, today, to pause for a moment before one thing we've taken for granted and pose it as a question. The purpose of thought lies in better thinking, in becoming a better human being. And that beginning always starts from pausing, right now, for just a moment.

[1] Holding a Reflection on My Own Existence

From a young age, there was always a certain emptiness wrapped around me. Something unnamed, circling me like rings around a planet. A strangeness about myself I could never quite put into words, and an awareness of that strangeness that never left me.

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