“Panta Rhei,” Parts 3–6

Date/Time: Wed, 4/29, 9:00 p.m.

Online participants: Jayu, Mori

Book title: Panta Rhei

Author: Min Taegi

Year published: 2021

Publisher: Science Books

Assigned reading: Parts 3–6

Content: As I read Eric Hobsbawm’s Age Trilogy—with its consistent denial of the reality of socialism’s complete failure and its air of self-congratulation, as if to say, “I’ve studied this so much and I’m so very smart”—I had to endure it and was pained by my own ignorance of European history.

Then, on Venti’s recommendation, I came across Dr. Min Taegi’s [Panta Rhei] and watched a YouTube lecture by the author. He was Shin Sekyung (please forgive this middle-aged man). The author explained wonderfully how the development of science is bound up with so many people and ideas; how science at the time was not merely one modern academic field but something synonymous with philosophy and the humanities, something foundational; how it was connected to the various arts as well; and how Europe (and later the United States), by properly pursuing scholarship, made possible the progress of humanity we enjoy today.

I was amazed that an author of this caliber is Korean.

The book itself is excellent, but I would also recommend, if possible, watching the dozens of videos in which the author’s sincerity and depth are clearly revealed. As someone who considers himself a liberal, I found many points in the sections where the author discusses economics difficult to agree with, and I was disappointed that he ended the explanation with a quote from Marx (“Did that really have to be what made it all feel complete?”). But regarding most of the rest, I would simply like to say: “I learned a lot.”

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Original title: <판타 레이(Panta Rhei)> 3~6부

Author: Jayujuui Ipmun Dokseotoronmoim

Date: 2026-05-13

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=1&idx=28902