Leisure - Josef Pieper
The Basis of Culture
I
“School” derives from Latin “scola” which come from the Greek “skole” which means leisure.
[bq] "The word used to designate the place where we educate and teach is derived from a word which means ‘leisure’. ‘School’ does not, properly speaking, mean school, but leisure.”
[bq] “The original conception of leisure […] has […] become unrecognisable in the world of planned diligence and ‘total labor’. […] We must begin by setting aside prejudice - our prejudice - that come from overvaluing the sphere of work” (p. 2)
Calls our world a world of “total work” where the observation of Max Weber that we “live to work” is taken for granted and the opposite is seen as crazy.
Neither Greek nor Latin even had words for work, only the negation of leisure (a-scolia (Greek), neg-otium (Latin)).
Aristotle (in “Politics”) essentially states that “leisure is the centre point about which everything evolves”. We no longer understand the Greek’s concept of leisure.
II
“Intellectual worker” indicates a shift in our thinking and perception of work.
Intellectual activity was traditionally always reserved for the leisure class, and intimately associated with leisure, and far removed from work.
The ancients thought of knowledge as receptive, we passively receive it through seeing the world. But modern thinkers like Kant considered it “discursive”, something that after observing requires the deliberate efforts of “comparing, examining, relating, abstracting, …”
Contemplation has been replaced by activity. Leisure by work.
Heraclitus described it as “listening to the essence of things”.
Whereas Kant: “… reason acquires its possession through work.”
In the Middle Ages philosophers spoke of the two aspects ‘ratio’ (the logical discursive part) and ‘intellectus’, (the perceptive part)
The ancients did appreciate the value/importance of ratio, the discursive part that requires work, but they did not entirely reduce knowledge just to that. It was only the very final aspect of it.
Discursive thought vs intellectual contemplation as two aspects. Similar to “toil and trouble” vs “effortless possession”.
Kant described philosophising as “Herculean labor”. He actively dismisses intellectual contemplation because it is effortless.
To Kant, hard work = moral good.
[bq] “Carlyle, the prophet of the religion of work.”
[q] “The essence of virtue consists in the good rather than in the difficult. […] Not everything that is more difficult is necessarily more meritorious.”
- St. Thomas of Aquinas
[bq] “The highest moral good is characterised by effortlessness - because it springs from love.”
[bq] “Exaggerated value which is put upon ‘difficult’ simply because it is difficult.”
[bq] “Man seems to mistrust everything that is effortless, he can only enjoy, with a good conscience, what he has acquired with told and trouble; he refuses to have anything as a gift.”
Talks about the social aspect. In a world of “total work”, the intellectual worker needs to do his share of work and toil, and his activities need to be targeted towards a clear productivity goal.
[bq] “Education as opposed to training, culture as opposed to instruction.”
[q] “It is necessary for the perfection of human society, that there should be men who devote their live to contemplation.”
- St. Thomas of Aquinas
III
What we see as traits of the ‘worker’:
Extreme tension and constant action
Readiness to suffer
Absorption in social organism, always with utilitarian ends in mind
Given this assumption leisure is generally equated with laziness and sloth. But this is a modern way of thinking.
[bq] In the “Middle Ages […] it was held that sloth and restlessness, ‘leisurelessnesss’, the incapacity to enjoy leisure, were all closely connected; sloth was held to be the source of restlessness, and the ultimate cause of ‘work for work’s sake’”
[bq] “Idleness, in the old sense of the work, so far from being synonymous with leisure, is more nearly the inner requisite which renders leisure impossible: it might be described as the utter absence of leisure, or the very opposite of leisure. Leisure is only possible when a man is at one with himself, when he acquiesces in his own being.”
[bq] “Leisure […] is a mental and spiritual attitude - it is not simply the result of external factors, it is not the inevitable result of spare time, a holiday, a week-end, or a vacation.”
[bq] “Leisure implies […] an attitude of non-activity, of inward calm, of silence; it means not being ‘busy’, but letting things happen.”
Talks about “God’s intuition” visiting men during times of leisure. Only in those silent moments our soul is receptive enough.
[Less religious: The famous Aha moment in the shower]
Even God rested on the seventh day of creation to contemplate and celebrate. Leisure is necessary for this kind of celebration.
[bq] “Leisure […] is not only effortless but the direct contrary of effort; not just negative, in the sense of being no effort, but the positive counterpart.”
Argues that true leisure is different from a break from work, no matter how long, since that’s still part of the work and the same utilitarian goal. This kind of break is only defined through work.
[bq] “No one who looks at leisure simply to restore his working powers will ever discover the fruit of leisure, he will never know the quickening that follows, almost as though from some deep sleep.”
These effects are clearly there, but they should not be why we practice leisure.
IV
Can we still regain and defend the “right and claims of leisure”, given the advancing culture of total labour we are in?
[q] “That is the principal point: with what kind of activity is man to occupy his leisure?”
- Aristotle
[bq] “The soul of leisure […] lies in ‘celebration’. Celebration is the point at which the three elements of leisure emerge together: effortlessness, calm and relaxation, and its superiority to all and every function.”
Claims that true celebration is only possible when linked to “divine worship”.
Traditionally in most cultures, days of rest were set aside for worship.
Like a temple or church are locations that are not used except for worship, so rest is a time that is set aside purely for that purpose.
[bq] “Leisure embraces everything which, without being merely useful, is an essential part of a full human existence.”
Thinks that in a wold where everyone had strong faith, the need for leisure was obvious. But now in a world where faith is declining, the justification of leisure is forgotten along with it.
[NFW: Contrast this with the Protestant work ethic]
[NFW: We are now seeing increased interest in spirituality again; hopefully this will come with increased understanding of leisure.]
The word leisure “means everything that lies beyond the utilitarian world” and thus forms the basis of culture.
The Philosophical Act
I
[bq] “To philosophise is to act in such a way that one steps out of the world of work in which man earns his bread by the sweat of his brow.”
As work becomes more and more central to our world, philosophy becomes more and more remote and rare, even among academics.
[bq] “Wonder does not occur in the workaday world.”
Contrasts the “liberal arts” (leisurely pursuits) with “servile arts”, those done for a particular purpose, i.e. work.
II
[bq] “To philosophise […] is to take a step beyond the everyday world of work.”
III
A philosopher has “to be a stranger in the world” to approach it with the necessary sense of wonder. This cannot be a constant state, so the notion of a “professional philosopher” does not make sense to Pieper.