Towards a New Poetics on Stars
ILHWAN KONG
Seoul National University
Master Candidate
Science Studies
History of Science
olbers [at] snu [dot] ac [dot] kr
I was born in Jinju, South Korea in 1998 and stuck there until middle school age. My childhood was of any typical math-maniac South Korean youngster: quiescent, curious, and somewhat queer. After that, KSA in Busan which is a nation-funded, science-directed boarding high school, forced me to realize I am actually queer: that both science and humanities equally attract me, and that I am an irreversibly stubborn homosexual warrior.
In 2017, I was accepted to Seoul National University, which has nationwide prestige. Currently, I have majors in chemistry and aesthetics. I know, this choice may be quite weird: but for me, both fields are extremely charming and challenging. During the 2-year academic break of mandatory military service in the Air Force, I had been increasingly interested in the converging point of my majors, History and Philosophy of science (HPS).
Kant clearly disregarded the possibility of ‘beautiful science’: to him, this term is a literal contradiction. However, contemporary scientists combine the word beautiful freely with scientific theory or proof. I think that reconciliation can be achieved, or at least embodied by delving into the critical theory of the early 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin’s. Here comes my main theoretical target:
Can there be any way to sing a song of stars,
in both scientific/aesthetic ways?