In Praise Of Idleness And Other Essays

''In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays'' is a 1935 collection of essays by the philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Summary

The collection includes essays on the subjects of sociology, ethics and philosophy. In the eponymous essay, Russell displays a series of arguments and reasoning with the aim of stating how the 'belief in the virtue of labour causes great evils in the modern world, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies instead in a diminution of labour' and how work 'is by no means one of the purposes of human life'.

Russell argues that if labour was equitably shared out amongst everyone, resulting in shorter work days, unemployment would decrease and human happiness would increase due to the increase in leisure time, further resulting in increased involvement in the arts and sciences.

Russell defends this thesis with two main arguments:

* the first is that the value of work is a moral prejudice of the privileged classes who believe that the absence of activity would lead most men, especially those of the poorer classes, to idleness and depravity. Consequently, it would be in the interest of men to be exploited;

* the second is that industrial production is now sufficient to provide, with a minimum of labour, for the needs of all human beings.: "The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the larger interests of humanity. Sometimes this is true; Athenian slave-owners, for instance, employed part of their leisure in making a permanent contribution to civilisation which would have been impossible under a just economic system. Leisure is essential to civilisation, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labours of the many. But their labours were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good. And with modern technique it would be possible to distribute leisure justly without injury to civilisation. Modern technique has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labour required to secure the necessaries of life for everyone."

The rationalisation of wartime production has shown that a small number of people can produce the necessities of life for the whole population. Even more so, if this work is shared by the whole population, it follows that an individual does not need to work much to produce the resources essential to life, and some more.

Russell therefore argues that four hours of work per day would be enough to keep the whole population living in sufficient comfort, while the rest of the time would be devoted to leisure, to idleness. Russell's conception of leisure or idleness is similar to the Latin otium praised by Seneca. This leisure would be devoted to all forms of culture (from the most popular to the most intellectual) whose practice would be encouraged by a liberated education.

Other related themes emerge in the book: pacifism, politics (which Russell ridicules), the denunciation of landowners who live in idleness at the expense of others. He also denounces the Soviet regime, which also obeyed the dogma of work in an authoritarian manner, the cult of efficiency, the problem of the confinement of intellectuals in their own sphere, far from the reality of people that have to work, and worker's estrangement from the good leisure (that which is non-passive and which enriches civilisation).: "University life is so different from life in the world at large that men who live in an academic milieu tend to be unaware of the pre- occupations and problems of ordinary men and women; more-over their ways of expressing themselves are usually such as to rob their opinions of the influence that they ought to have upon the general public. Another disadvantage is that in universities studies are organised, and the man who thinks of some original line of research is likely to be discouraged. Academic institutions, therefore, useful as they are, are not adequate guardians of the interests of civilisation in a world where everyone outside their walls is too busy for unutilitarian pursuits."

The notion of leisure, no longer as a simple recuperation necessary to the body, but as an opportunity to discover new life experiences is also present.

Publication history

''In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays'' was first published in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin Ltd in 1935. In 2004, the book was published by Routledge, with a new introduction by the historian Anthony Gottlieb.

References

Bibliography

*

See also

* '' The Right to Be Lazy''
* '' Bonjour paresse''
* Guy Debord

External links

*
''In Praise of Idleness'' (audio)

1935 non-fiction books
1935 essays
Allen & Unwin books
English-language books
British essay collections
Literature critical of work and the work ethic
Works by Bertrand Russell

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