PHIL20720 Philosophy of Work

Academic Year 2022/2023

Work makes up a huge portion of our lives. Different people identify to different degrees and in different ways with their work: they might be more or less ambitious, they might care more or less about the content or products of the work, they might enjoy the collegial relationships more or less. At one extreme, work can be meaningless and/or undignified drudgery; at the other, work is an all-consuming vocation. This module will examine what work and careers can mean in our lives, alongside other typical sources of meaning and self-esteem and recognition. We will look at the concepts of ambition, loyalty, pride and service – concepts notorious for having both positive and negative inflections. We will ask about prestige and wages and power, and the different kinds of inequality in their distribution (especially with reference to class and gender and race). We will look at government policies to do with e.g. income taxation, the minimum wage, unemployment benefits, and retirement. We will ask about certain special categories of work, such as parenting, care work, charity work, and sex work.