Man as Worker

A Historical Valuation of Work

Who am I?
As a human being, my
time is devoted to doing –
for school, for friends,
for work.
Am I what I do?
Am I the work that I
Work
Work is mainly what we
do.
Work is what consumes
most of our time, and
mostly what consumes us.
Work
Work is problematic.
And yet, we spend so
much time doing work. We
spend most of our lives
doing it.
Work
Is it the work that we
do that makes us human?
Social Problem
John Paul II says that
“the social problems of man
today are related to work
and the key to their
understanding is the
dignity of labor.”
Work
The question of work is,
properly speaking, a
philosophical question.
Work
So, what is work?
Work is the result when a
force acts on an object and
moves it by some distance.
Well, at least, according
to physics.
Historical Valuation
The notion of work has
evolved through time.
How is work valued
throughout history?
Primitive Man
The primitive man knows
no real value for work.
Primitive Man
In a world thought
to be under the
hidden forces of
nature, the primitive
man hunts and gathers
food to keep himself
alive.
Primitive Man
More than security,
man works in order to
offer sacrifice to the
gods.
Work, therefore, is
not to change the world
Greeks
The Greeks cut off work
from the sacredness of
nature.
For them, work is
profane, fitting only to
slaves and animals.
Greeks
Work is not supposed
to disrupt the order
of nature but to
harmonize with it, to
repeat its rhythm,
Bible
Work is looked at in
the light of God’s
creation.
God worked for six
days and rested on the
seventh day. Thus man
Bible
To work is an
imitation of God, a
participation in His
creative act.
Bible
However, the book of
Genesis also tells us
that after Adam and Eve
fell, God put a curse on
Adam.
“You will have to work
hard and sweat to make
the soil produce
anything, until you go
back to the soil from
which you were
formed.”
Bible
Work is also toil, a
consequence of sin.
Middle Ages
Workers grouped
themselves into guilds
called fraternities,
working on the basis of
mutual trust.
Thus, work is duty to
Middle Ages
Work is limited to
manual labor of the
craftsman to preserve
the community, but not
to derive profit.
St. Thomas
Work is good for man
because it cultivates
the virtue of
industriousness,
overcoming idleness.
By working, man is
St. Benedict
The ambiguity of work
is resolved in the motto
of the monks, “ora et
labora”.
St. Benedict
Work is noble as long
as one is not attached
to the fruits of one’s
labor but offer it to
God.
Thus St. Benedict’s
 th
16 -19 th Centuries
Today, work has a new
value.
Guilds have declined,
and industry and
technique merge to form
big capitalistic
 th
16 -19 th Centuries
This is due
to the growing
individualistic
spirit at that
time,
philosophically
initiated by
 th
16 -19 th Centuries
Today, there is no limit
to making profit, to
accumulating interest
bearing capital.
 th
16 -19 th Centuries
The power of man to
control nature and to make
nature conform to man has
been brought out.
This new impetus gives
rise to the cult of work.
 th
16 -19 th Centuries
Everyone must work.
Man is the homo
economicus.
Work
How do we now see work?
We turn our attention to
the great philosopher of
work, Karl Marx.
Karl Marx
•German philosopher,
sociologist,
economist and
revolutionary
•Famous for writing
The Communist
Manifesto
Marx
For Marx, it is
through work that man
becomes man, and
nature becomes nature
for man.
Marx
When animals
produce, they produce
only what is
necessary for
themselves.
When man works, he
Marx
Man does not only
produce out of
physical need, but
also when free from
such need.
And when he
Marx
Man transforms the
earth by work, but by
changing nature, man
also changes himself.
Through work, man
develops himself. The
Marx
Work is not simply a
means to a goal outside;
rather, work is an end
in itself, a value in
itself.
Marx
Work cannot simply be
reduced to a means of
living.
In fact, man lives in
order to work, for work
is the only way for man
Laborem Exercens
John Paul II’s Philosophy of Work
John Paul II
•Polish priest
•264 Pope
th

•For 26 years
John Paul II
In the encyclical
Laborem Exercens, JPII
wrote his philosophy on
human labor wherein he
develops the concept of
the dignity of man.
John Paul II
Work is a fundamental
dimension of man’s
existence on Earth, as
found in the first pages
of Genesis:
“Be fruitful and
John Paul II
Man’s dominion is
achieved in and by
means of work. The
proper subject of
work is man, and the
finality of work is
always man himself.
John Paul II
Work, however,
sometimes, can cease
to be man’s ally and
becomes almost his
enemy.
Through the
John Paul II
Therefore, there
should be new
movements of
solidarity of
workers to combat
this slavery.
John Paul II
Work is a good
thing for man. It is
through this that he
achieves fulfillment
and, indeed, in a
sense, becomes more
a human being.
Spirituality
Work is a
participation in the
work of the Creator.
Jesus Christ looks
upon work with love
because He himself
“By enduring the toil of
work in union with
Christ crucified for us,
man in a way
collaborates with the
Son of God for the
redemption of humanity.
Man shows himself a true
disciple of Christ by
carrying the cross is
Work as Love
Made Visible
A Phenomenology of Work
Kahlil Gibran
•Lebanese philosopher, poet,
theologian, writer
•Born in 1883
•The Prophet, 1923
•Third best-selling poet in history
On Work
You work that you may keep pace
with the earth and the soul of the
earth.
For to be idle is to become a
stranger unto the seasons,
and to step out of life's procession,
that marches in majesty and proud
On Work
When you work you are a flute
through whose heart the whispering
of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed,
dumb and silent, when all else sings
together in unison?
On Work
Always you have been told that
work is a curse and labor a
misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work
you fulfil a part of earth's furthest
dream, assigned to you when that
dream was born,
On Work
And in keeping yourself with
labor you are in truth loving
life,
And to love life through labor
is to be intimate with life's
inmost secret.
On Work
But if you in your pain call birth
an affliction and the support of
the flesh a curse written upon
your brow, then I answer that
naught but the sweat of your brow
shall wash away that which is
written.
On Work
You have been told also that life is
darkness, and in your weariness
you echo what was said by the
weary.
And I say that life is indeed
darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when
On Work
And all knowledge is vain save
when there is work,
And all work is empty save when
there is love;
And when you work with love you
bind yourself to yourself, and to
one another, and to God.
On Work
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with
threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to
wear that cloth.
On Work
It is to build a house with
affection,
even as if your beloved were to
dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness
and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to
On Work
It is to charge all things you
fashion with a breath of your own
spirit,
And to know that all the blessed
dead are standing about you and
watching.
On Work
Often have I heard you say, as if
speaking in sleep, "He who works
in marble, and finds the shape of
his own soul in the stone, is nobler
than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to
lay it on a cloth in the likeness of
man, is more than he who makes
On Work
But I say, not in sleep but in the
overwakefulness of noontide,
that the wind speaks not more
sweetly to the giant oaks than to
the least of all the blades of
grass;
And he alone is great who turns
the voice of the wind into a song
On Work
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love
but only with distaste, it is
better that you should leave your
work and sit at the gate of the
temple and take alms of those
who work with joy.
On Work
For if you bake bread with
indifference, you bake a bitter
bread that feeds but half man's
hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing
of the grapes, your grudge
distils a poison in the wine.
On Work
And if you sing though as
angels, and love not the singing,
you muffle man's ears to the
voices of the day and the voices
of the night.
 Activity

Propose an environmental activity

that can help people to
understand the importance of
Nature in the actualization of
one’s own humanity.