Sunday, October 29, 2006

Feeling intellectual right now? Try this: Philosophy of Work

Here's a summary of my Philosophy class on why persons work:

Work is part of the humanization -- that which makes a person more human, and different from animals -- process of man. By definition, "work is the activity which man exercises in a free and burdensome way, with the purpose of acquiring the means to satisfy his own needs and wants."

Let's face it. We have to work if we want to achieve something. Analyze the statement closely. Work is clearly a means, and not an end. it is an activity that has an end outside itself. The activity that does not have an end outside itself is contemplation, an end in itself.

Distinguishing roles, as in your role as a CEO and your role as a father or mother, has a tendency to split the personality of the person as if he or she is a different person at work, and at home. [Maybe that's why there are schizophrenics... hmmm.]

Although work humanizes us, it can also dehumanize us when we start becoming workaholics. We know that we are workaholics when we have already destroyed our social life.

To end, "Work is for man. Man is for others. Man is for God."