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Why Work? What Does Philosophy (Not) Tell Us About Worker Motivation?

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Handbook of Philosophy of Management

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Philosophy ((HP))

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Abstract

This chapter explores what philosophy tells us about why we work. Of course, most people need the goods or income work provides. However, philosophy raises broader normative questions about how work affects the “well-lived” human life. The chapter covers three main philosophical perspectives, drawn from Aristotle, Hannah Arendt, and Axel Honneth. Contemporary (re)interpretations of Aristotle offer insight into work’s potential role in eudaimonia or “human flourishing.” Arendt analyses how the objects we produce – and more precisely, their durability – affects the meaning and value of our tasks. Honneth elucidates work’s social dimension, namely, how others’ (mis)recognition of our work shapes both the experience of work and our self-relations. Prior management theory, especially in critical traditions, has touched on similar themes. However, one contribution of philosophy is paradoxically its ambivalence towards work, which can help bring what seems ambiguous or contradictory about work, and therefore about our motives to work, more fully into view.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Dale Tweedie

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  1. Dale Tweedie
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Correspondence to Dale Tweedie .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Cristina Neesham

  2. Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Steven Segal

Section Editor information

  1. Graduate School of Management, Macqarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Steven Segal

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Tweedie, D. (2020). Why Work? What Does Philosophy (Not) Tell Us About Worker Motivation?. In: Neesham, C., Segal, S. (eds) Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_49-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_49-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48352-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48352-8

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