Professor Park Gu-yong of Philosophy - Kicking Away the Devil's Ladder and Setting Up the Angel's Ladder

Prologue: It is an era where we must read the context, not the words.

Today, we live in a state of political stability. Compared to previous democratic governments, the tension between the citizens and the government has decreased, and social discourse has become somewhat more flexible. However, Professor Park Gu-yong emphasizes that we should remain vigilant in this calm environment. This is because in stable times, context-free claims can easily gain persuasiveness through mere text. He states, 'A philosopher is someone who looks at the position of the words rather than the words themselves.' Even if something appears to be correct, we must examine what implications it holds at this moment. What moves society is not text but context, and the philosophical understanding we must uphold is that it is 'context' rather than 'facts' that matters.

The risk of 'flawed arguments' and lack of context

Professor Park critically examines two specific claims among many circulating today. One is the assertion that "we should not issue consumption coupons because prices are rising," and the other is the claim that "housing loan restrictions are kicking away the ladder." The first statement may be somewhat valid from an economic theoretical perspective, as it is rooted in the classical causal relationship of increased money supply leading to rising prices. However, Professor Park points out that this is a typical case of "the text is correct, but the context is wrong." Even if prices are rising now, it is an urgent period for boosting consumption, and direct intervention is inevitable in a situation where the foundation of people's livelihoods has collapsed. Regarding the second claim, which views loan regulations as "kicking away the ladder," Professor Park rebuts it through a philosophical interpretation. In this case, what is important is "what kind of ladder it is." It is essential to consider not just any ladder, but to analyze who benefits from that ladder and who suffers from it.

This is the philosophical genealogy of the ladder metaphor.

Professor Park Gu-yong does not see the ladder merely as a tool. The ladder is a very old metaphor in Western civilization, with origins rooted in religious symbolism. In the book of Genesis of the Old Testament, there is a story of "Jacob's Ladder." The ladder that Jacob saw in his dream was a passage connecting heaven and the human world, with angels ascending and descending on it. This signifies a structure through which God's blessings and revelations are conveyed to humanity. In other words, this ladder was a structural passage for the order of heaven to reach humanity. On the other hand, by the time of the New Testament, the ladder is no longer just a simple tool. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ himself appears as the ladder. He is the being that connects heaven and earth, a mediator who leads heavenly intentions into human life. From this point on, the ladder becomes a symbol of process, love, and relationship. It becomes a metaphorical entity that connects humanity and divinity, ideals and reality, life and death, thereby becoming an end in itself.

Wittgenstein's Ladder Kicking

20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein states in the last passage of the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" that one should "kick away the ladder after climbing it." This perspective sees the concepts and language needed to solve philosophical problems as temporary tools, asserting that if one has reached the essence, the tools can be discarded. However, Professor Park is skeptical of this claim. The ladder is not something you climb just once it exists within a structure where you must come down and go back up again at any time. Life is a repetition like Sisyphus, and philosophy is no different. He critiques that "Wittgenstein seems like someone who has never climbed the ladder." Philosophy is the effort to speak about what cannot be spoken, and it is a struggle to create speech in a position where silence is untenable.

It is a metaphor of the ladder of political economy.

Professor Park does not discuss the ladder metaphor only in philosophical terms. He extends this ladder to the discourse of politics and economics, particularly concerning housing issues. A representative case of kicking away the ladder can be easily found in economic history. After achieving industrialization, Britain and the United States often imposed free trade on latecomer countries while erecting protectionist barriers for themselves. Professor Chang Ha-joon termed this phenomenon "Kicking Away the Ladder." It highlights the logic of the powerful, who deprive latecomer countries of the opportunity to grow and seek to maintain their own order permanently. Now, we must apply this ladder to South Korea's real estate market. Professor Park defines the real estate purchasing structure based on "unlimited loans" and "infinite leverage" as the devil's ladder. This ladder allows someone with 2 billion in assets to borrow 3 billion to purchase a 5 billion won apartment. The profits from this structure are monopolized by the few asset holders already at the top of the ladder. Professor Park analyzes that the loan limit measures of the Lee Jae-myung government were precisely the action to kick away this devil's ladder. Rather, by temporarily removing the stepping stone at the top, it was an attempt to prevent the entire ladder structure from collapsing and to design a "angel's ladder" for those below, which is a safe and balanced ascending structure.

It is a struggle of language and metaphor.

Professor Park emphasizes how powerful a weapon 'metaphor' is in political discourse. The expression 'kicking the ladder' may seem to suppress the weak at first glance. However, if we do not scrutinize what the 'ladder' refers to, we may fall into a frame that defends the vested interests of the strong. It is time to redefine the ladder itself. To this end, Professor Park suggests two new terms: the devil's ladder vs the angel's ladder. We should no longer be swayed by the phrase 'kicked the ladder'. We must question and reflect. Whose ladder was it? Who was it a stepping stone for?

Epilogue: It is an era of redesigning the ladder.

Real estate should no longer be a target of speculation. We must create a society where it is possible to live in the places we want, in an era where Seoul apartments can change as freely as mobile phones. This is not just a matter of assets but a question of the way we live. Professor Park Gue-young states, 'South Korea ranks at the top level in industrial capitalism, but it is backward in financial capitalism.' The reason is that it has been operated under 'capitalism' rather than 'capitalist-ism.' We are now at a turning point where we must surpass capitalist-ism and transition to a just financial capitalism. The core of this transition is the redesign of the real estate system, in other words, setting up the ladder of opportunity. Philosophy is not something distant from reality. Rather, without philosophy, we will continue to live in a wrong world cloaked in the illusion of 'correct words.' What we need to do now is clear. We must resist the notion that we kicked away the ladder and choose which ladder to build. And that ladder must be a safe and fair one that more people can climb.