Philosophy of Work

1. Man as
Homo
Faber
Philosophical
Implication
of Human
Labor

2. Context
There are many social issues plaguing
our country even today. Many of
which are economic in nature:
• the numerous strikes of workers
against management;
• the increasing rate of
unemployment with the
accompanying growing demand for
higher wages; • the dichotomy between
the so-called white-
collared jobs and blue-
collared jobs and the
predominant attitude of
looking down upon the
latter;

3. Context
• the industrialization gap between the rural and urban
sectors, resulting in the migration of workers to the cities;
• and the ethical dilemma of
the lagay and pakikisama system that goes with
the bureaucracy of large institutions.

4. • Overshadowing these issues is still the conflict of
ideologies:
 capitalism versus communism,
 individualism versus collectivism,
 and the problem of objectification,
 depersonalization or functionalization of the
worker in a highly technological industrial set-
up.
• It would be easier to tackle these social issues
separately and propose an appropriate solution, but
that might not solve the problems at their root.
• Basically, these problems do not only cover the
economic realm but transcend beyond it.

5. They manifest one apparent human reality: WORK
- What is work?
- Is it only economic in character?
- What is the root of the issues concerning work?
The problems about work or human labor are maybe
problems of discrepancy between what is work ought to
be and what in fact is happening in the society today.
To seek for the solution would be vain unless we inquire
into the very root of the reality of human work.
In other words, to realize a better understanding of these
problems and find solution for them is to seek first the
philosophical foundation of human labor.

6. This is possible only when we realize the dignity
of human labor.
There are many different notions about work just as
there are many different phases of civilization
throughout history.
It would be best to trace these notions of work and
find their philosophical implications especially on
how man views himself in relation to nature.
In that way we shall understand how work finds its
root in the inner reality human life and how does it
manifest man’s humanity

7. Historical
Valuations
of Work

8. Prehistoric era
Living an undifferentiated world, wherein everything including
human realities is thought to be under control of the hidden forces
of nature or gods, primitive man hunts and gathers food to keep
himself alive. It seems, however, that primitive man knows no
specific value for work
More than mere
security and survival,
man works in order to
offer sacrifice to the
gods. It seems,
however, that primitive
man knows no specific
value for work. More
than mere security and
survival, man works in
order to offer sacrifice
to the gods.

9. For primitive man, work is not to change and
manipulate the world but to appease the
gods through ritual and magic.

10. How the primitive must have viewed work has an
obvious implication of how he views himself.

11. He is a part of nature and hence
is not exempted in the control
of nature’s hidden forces.

12. He sees no
value of
himself
outside the
tribe he
belongs to
and the
gods that
the tribe
worships.

13. Ancient Civilization
(Greek)
Greeks thought about
work as something
profane and fitting only
for the slaves and the
animals.

14. The ideal activity is to philosophize, to exercise
reason in order to grasp the underlying reality
about nature and humanity.
Work (that is, physical labor) is not supposed
to disrupt the order of nature but to harmonize
with it.

15. Reason distinguishes man from others
beings like animals and plants.
This implies that man’s realization of
himself as a rational being is realized
not in the activity of the profane but in
the activity of reason.

16. Medieval Ages
• The predominance of Christianity influenced how
people view work.
• Work is no longer looked down upon but is seen as
an imitation of God’s activity. God creates
everything, and it is proper to every person to
participate in the creative activity of God.

17. Medieval Ages
• Nevertheless, it is maintained that work is not only
a manifestation of man’s holiness and also of
man’s falling into sin. Adam’s failure to follow
God’s command bears a painful consequence that
he has to toil for all the days of his life in order to
survive.

18. Here, man’s realization of himself
is the recognition that he is
created in the image and likeness
of God. This is specifically evident
in man’s rational and spiritual soul.
Hence, it follows that his activities
must be aimed at enriching his
spirit rather than merely satisfying
his bodily needs.
Such is the reason why work
must be viewed in the light of
man’s satisfaction of his
spiritual needs as a concrete
realization of himself.
This is explicated in the
monks’ motto: orare est
laborare (to work is to pray)

19. Modern Period
•The emergence of large industries and
machineries in the modern period gave a new
valuation of work. This is brought about by the
individualistic and materialistic spirit of the time
and the rise of natural sciences.
•With his scientific knowledge, man is now able to
manipulate nature, milking it at his own disposal.

20. • Work becomes
profit-oriented.
• Insatiable wants
drive other people
(the capitalists) to
produce massively
and make large
profit out of it even
at the expense of
other people’s
dignity and life.

21. Modern Period
• Modern man regards himself as the controller of
nature. His humanity does not lie in harmonizing
but rather in surpassing himself over nature
making it vow to him.
• There is no other value in work for man than
becoming his means to realize himself as master of
the world and himself.

22. Karl Marx’s
Philosophy of Work
One of the world’s greatest
economist and philosopher of
work.
In the Economic and
Philosophical Manuscripts of
1844, Karl Marx discussed the
intimate relationship between
man and nature achieved
because of work.
Work is central to the humanist
Marx because for him it is
through work that man
becomes man, and nature
becomes nature for man.

23. Human Labor and Animal Labor
Marx contrasts human from animal labor.
Animals produce, but they only produce what is
necessary for themselves and for their young to
survive. As such their products belong directly to
their physical needs. We can see that through
their labor, animals become one with their life
activity, and that they do not distinguish
themselves from their own activities.
For example, a spider produces web not for any
other purpose than to catch its prey. It does not
go beyond its own activity. Hence, the spider is
completely identified with its work. Such is the
reason why whenever we see a web we always
think about spider.

24. • Man, on the other hand, works universally. He does not
only work out of his physical needs but also when free of
such needs.
• And when he produces, he produces the whole of nature;
he is not confined to his own species. He knows how to
produces according to the standards of every species.
• He makes his life activity an object of his will and
consciousness.
• Man’s activity, therefore, is a free activity. He can
distinguish himself from his product, and he makes his
product an expression of himself.

25. The development of labor is the
development of production.
Development of production is brought
about by the innovation in the means of
work which are the tools man used in
his labor.
For example, before a tailor can weave
only a minimal number of dresses in a
day, but through machines he can
produce hundreds of dresses in an hour.
The social dimension of human labor
For Marx, human labor is a process between man and
nature. Man transforms the earth by work; but by
changing nature, man also changes himself: he
develops and empowers himself. The development of
work is likewise the Development of man.

26. •Tools, however, are designed for a specific
production only. Hence, the use of tools implies
division of labor.
•In making a pie for example, there is no one tool
that can produce a whole pie. Different tools are
used; hence, different tool-users are necessary.
This allows men to be interdependent with each
other.
•Therefore, through labor, man becomes social.

27. •Moreover, according to Marx, work becomes
the meeting place of people throughout
history.
•Every generation finds at its disposal a
means of work produced by the preceding
generation and leaves behind certain means
of production that will serve as the starting
point for the future generation.

28. The value of labor
• Consequently, for Marx, work is not simply a means
to a goal outside; rather, work is an end in itself, a
value in itself. It is not surprising, then, that Marx is
against working for the sake of a wage and the
capitalistic system that makes work and the worker a
commodity in the market.
• Work cannot be simply reduced to a means to live. In
fact, man lives in order to work, for work is the way
for man to realize his true humanity.

29. The value of labor
• His product becomes the embodiment of his
humanity. Nature becomes humanized.
Originally, it was not so, but labor puts human
stamp to nature.
• For example, when man makes a chair, the chair
which is part of nature becomes humanized.
There is a human stamp in the chair.

30. • Through labor, man becomes man, and nature
becomes nature for man.
• However, in order that his labor becomes a truly
human activity, man must not only produce for
himself. Human labor is intrinsically a social
activity. Man cannot produce by himself and he
owes his subsistence from others. Therefore, man
must recognize that his product is not for him alone
but also for others.

31. • Man works not only for himself but also
for others.
• It is through this that labor becomes a
way to achieve a truly humane and
peaceful society.

32. Work and Man in the Technological Era
 The present age is technological.
 To some extent, technology has dominated man’s
thinking and behaviour; hence, it has aptly been
called “technocracy”.
 Ours is an age of machine and computers, of
mass communication, video, print and
telecommunication, of energized land, sea and air
travel, etc.

33.  Technology has no longer transformed nature; it
has forced nature to reveal its secrets.
 Thinking that nature is unformed and disorderly,
man has interfered in it, creating an artificial
world of machines and computers.
 Rather than merely conforming to his
surroundings, man has made the earth conform
to him. He has, in a sense, created his own world
of structures and institutions.

34. • Before, his natural needs determined
production. Today, production creates
demand and determines man’s needs.
• Much of what Marx says of work and
man are true in the technological era:
modern work is the mastery over
nature, humanizing nature and
realize man’s humanity.

35. • Work has become the decisive determinant of most
aspects of human life. This makes work become
very significant. However, there do exist the
negative aspects of contemporary labor: the
anonymous ties of urban life, the identification of
the person with his function, the drudgery of
repetitious specialized labor, the bureaucracy of
institutions – in short, functionalization and
depersonalization of the person.

36. • Man is no longer the master of work,
but it is now work which becomes the
master of man.
• It seems that work has come to
assume a quasi-independent
existence, threatening to swallow
man.

37. • Indeed, insofar as man is embodied, he needs to
provide for his physical beings in order to survive.
• However, man, a being who is more than a body,
does not only need to fulfill physical but also
spiritual needs.
• As an embodied spirit, he makes
use of what he gains from nature
for other higher purposes.

38. Besides productive
labor, there is
something more to our
earthly existence. It is
not enough to have
food, clothing, and
shelter. We also seek
for leisure or play, to be
with our friends and
families, to simply take
nature as it is and not
as a means – in short,
to be just ourselves.

39. The danger is to make everything of
human existence work. To work is a way
of realizing oneself but not the only way.

40. There is still leisure and culture.
We must not separate work
from leisure (fun) and culture
(creativity). Otherwise, work
would cease to be a human
work.

41. Notwithstanding
the many kinds
of work, the
value of work
lies in the
worker, the
dignity of man
as an embodied
person, free,
social, and one
in the diversity
of his acts.