Leisure As…

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Leisure As

• the goal of life, the basis of culture (Greeks)
• diversion
• the route to understanding God
• as bad, even evil
• as an inappropriate diversion from work
• rejuvenation for work
• an economic commodity
• the ultimate goal of history, the purpose of a
  utopian society
• An expression of freedom and self-determination

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Questions From Greek Lecture

• Are some recreation activities the basis of
• culture? If so, does this mean that some
• activities are better than others?

2. Have the activities that define leisure
changed since Aristotles time?
3. Does modern government educate for leisure?
4. What material things, if any, do we need
to experience leisure?
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(No Transcript)
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Rome and Middle Ages
Stoics and Epicureans
Thomas Aquinas
Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic
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Fall of the Roman Empire
149 BC, Rome destroyed Carthage and all Europe
and Mediterranean fell to Rome. The effects,
however, were not all positive

• Low price of foreign grain meant that Roman
  farmers
• lost their land and farms became slave-run
  aristocratic
• estates.

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Fall of the Roman Empire
149 BC, Rome destroyed Carthage and all Europe
and Mediterranean fell to Rome. The effects,
however, were not all positive

• Low price of foreign grain meant that Roman
  farmers
• lost their land and farms became slave-run
  aristocratic
• estates.

2. With slaves, free labor (plebian) was so cheap
that it wasnt the non-slave labor force to
work.
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Fall of the Roman Empire
149 BC, Rome destroyed Carthage and all Europe
and Mediterranean fell to Rome. The effects,
however, were not all positive

• Low price of foreign grain meant that Roman
  farmers
• lost their land and farms became slave-run
  aristocratic
• estates.

2. With slaves, free labor (plebian) was so cheap
that it wasnt worth the non-slave labor
force to work.
3. Government and military corruption
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Fall of the Roman Empire
149 BC, Rome destroyed Carthage and all Europe
and Mediterranean fell to Rome. The effects,
however, were not all positive

• Low price of foreign grain meant that Roman
  farmers
• lost their land and farms became slave-run
  aristocratic
• estates.

2. With slaves, free labor (plebian) was so cheap
that it wasnt worth working.
3. Government and military corruption
4. To detract masses from collapse, a) foreign
wars to unite Romans and b)
government-sponsored mass entertainment
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Epicurus (Greek 342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

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Epicurus (342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

• reject Platonic/Aristotelian notion that trying
  
• to advance the state has any value

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Epicurus (342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

• reject Platonic/Aristotelian notion that trying
  
• to advance the state has any value

• concerned only with present (get through)

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Epicurus (342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

• reject Platonic/Aristotelian notion that trying
  
• to advance the state has any value

• concerned only with present (get through)

• maximize pleasure, minimize pain

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Epicurus (342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

• reject Platonic/Aristotelian notion that trying
  
• to advance the state has any value

• concerned only with present (get through)

• maximize pleasure, minimize pain

• first physical health, then mental health

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Epicurus (342-270 BC)

• state is in shambles, so individual should
• seek individual happiness

• reject Platonic/Aristotelian notion that trying
  
• to advance the state has any value

• concerned only with present (get through)

• maximize pleasure, minimize pain

• first physical health, then mental health

• not Epicurean delights, but simple
• contemplative (even monastic) existence

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Stoicism
The Greek (Cypriot) Zeno and the Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius
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Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC)

• City-state is corrupt, but dont abandon it

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Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC)

• City-state is corrupt, but dont abandon it

• people rarely have control of their lives
• (i.e., bad things happen to good people)

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Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC)

• City-state is corrupt, but dont abandon it

• people rarely have control of their lives
• (i.e., bad things happen to good people)

• so stoically accept fate in world

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Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC)

• City-state is corrupt, but dont abandon it

• people rarely have control of their lives
• (i.e., bad things happen to good people)

• so stoically accept fate in world

• happiness comes with the peace of accepting
• the way things are

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Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC)

• City-state is corrupt, but dont abandon it

• people rarely have control of their lives
• (i.e., bad things happen to good people)

• so stoically accept fate in world

• happiness comes with the peace of accepting
• the way things are

• the only thing we have control over is our own
• morality and virtue, so happiness comes with
• doing the right thing

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Marcus Aurelius A.D. 121-180
There are things beyond our control

• That which does not make a man worse, how can it
  make a mans life worse?
• Nothing happens to any man which he is not
  formed by nature to bear.
• Accept everything that happens, even if it seems
  disagreeable, because it leads to the health of
  the universe

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Marcus Aurelius (cont)
So a person must act right to be happy,
regardless of surroundings

• A man when he has done a good act, does not
  call out for others to come and see, but goes
  onto another act.
• A person cannot have a life of happiness if he
  cannot think and act in the right way.
• A persons worth is in accordance with the way he
  busies himself.

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Marcus Aurelius (cont)

• A person might not have leisure for pleasure and
  relaxation, but will have leisure to
• Check arrogance
• To be superior to pleasure and pain
• To be superior to love of fame
• Not be vexed by stupid and ungrateful people

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Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD.

• Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity
• (found a place for God in Aristotles scheme)
• (truth through faith and truth through
  reason)
• (supreme law and natural law)

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Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD.

• Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity
• (found a place for God in Aristotles scheme)
• (truth through faith and truth through
  reason)
• (supreme law and natural law)

• Aristotle explained what things are Aquinas
• explained how they got that way (God did it)

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Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD.

• Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity
• (found a place for God in Aristotles scheme)
• (truth through faith and truth through
  reason)
• (supreme law and natural law)

• Aristotle explained what things are Aquinas
• explained how they got that way (God did it)

• Four-part soul

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Aquinas (continued)

• first seeds of Christian work ethic in will

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Aquinas (continued)

• first seeds of Christian work ethic in will

• to be human is to know God, so to contemplate
  
• on God is a most human act. Contemplation
• has two forms
• 1. Contemplation of the divine
• 2. Contemplation of nature (creation of
  God)

(Transcendentalism????)

• knowledge has two forms
• 1. Theoretical (to gain truth)
• 2. Practical (to achieve a good)

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Max Weber (1864-1920) and the Protestant Work
Ethic

• the spirit of capitalism

• a calling (Luther)

• divine providence

• a calling that may be the spirit of capitalism
• (Calvin)

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Max Weber (1864-1920) and the Protestant Work
Ethic
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism (originally published in 1904)
This is Webers writing about what happened, not
his opinions of what is right
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
Time is money. (time spent idly is not only
money spent, but also the loss of money that
could have been earned working).
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
Time is money. (time spent idly is not only
money spent, but also the loss of money that
could have been earned working).
Credit is money. (if you owe someone money, let
him see you working, not playing).
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
Time is money. (time spent idly is not only
money spent, but also the loss of money that
could have been earned working).
Credit is money. (if you owe someone money, let
him see you working, not playing).
Utilitarian ethics. (honesty and virtue are
attributes in that they are good for business).
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
Time is money. (time spent idly is not only
money spent, but also the loss of money that
could have been earned working).
Credit is money. (if you owe someone money, let
him see you working, not playing).
Utilitarian ethics. (honest and virtue are
attributes that they are good for business).
Not the friendly, laid back neighborhood grocer,
but a person who exists for the sake of his/her
business
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Spirit of Capitalism
Acquisition of money is purpose of life.
Time is money. (time spent idly is not only
money spent, but also the loss of money that
could have been earned working).
Credit is money. (if you owe someone money, let
him see you working, not playing).
Utilitarian ethics. (honest and virtue are
attributes that they are good for business).
Not the friendly, laid back neighborhood grocer,
but a person who exists for the sake of his/her
business
Capitalism serves humanity by providing them with
goods and with jobs
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Overcome Traditionalism(Greed is Not Natural)

• The Dilemma of Piece-rate Work
• (money cannot get people to work harder)

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Overcome Traditionalism(Greed in Not Natural)

• The Dilemma of Piece-rate Work
• (money cannot get people to work harder)

2. Money-making as an end in itself isnt right
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Overcome Traditionalism(Greed in Not Natural)

• The Dilemma of Piece-rate Work
• (money cannot get people to work harder)

2. Money-making as an end in itself isnt right
3. Only educated people work hard in their jobs???
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Overcome Traditionalism(Greed in Not Natural)

• The Dilemma of Piece-rate Work
• (money cannot get people to work harder)

2. Money-making as an end in itself isnt right
3. Only educated people work hard in their
jobs??? 4. Leisure is bad, at least diversion
from important work
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Fear of Leisure (Hunnicutt)
A Slight Digression

• Free time a stagnant economy
• Free time leads to evil
• Leisure thwarts personal success
• Nothing breeds radicalism more quickly than
  unhappiness unless it is leisure
• Decline in the importance of work future
  decline in economic growth

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Fear of Leisure (Hunnicutt)

• Free time a stagnant economy

• Free time leads to evil
• Leisure thwarts personal success
• Nothing breeds radicalism more quickly than
  unhappiness unless it is leisure
• Decline in the importance of work future
  decline in economic growth

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Salvation of Consumerism (Hunnicutt)

• Arent making too much, but consuming too little
• If wages continue to go up, need reasons to not
  stop working
• So there is the job of promoting consumption

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Leisure as Consumption (Hunnicutt)

• Make leisure a consumer product
• Leisure is not as an alternative to work, but a
  new reason to work.

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Luthers Calling (1483-1546)
God does not want all of us to lead lives of
contemplation, but to fulfill obligations of
our place in the world (our calling)
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Luthers Calling
God does not want all of us to lead lives of
contemplation, but to fulfill obligations of
our place in the world (our calling)
All callings have equal worth in
eyes of God
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Luthers Calling
God does not want all of us to lead lives of
contemplation, but to fulfill obligations of our
place in the world (our calling)
All callings have equal worth in eyes of God
Divine providence God has role for each of
usour job is to discover that role and stay
there. By good acts, humility, trust in God we
get to heaven
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Calvinism
John Calvin (1509-1564)
Predestination
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Calvinism
Predestination
Cannot know whether chosen, but act as if you
are. Not humility (as with Luther), but push to
glorify God (be a tool of Gods will).
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Calvinism
Predestination
Cannot know whether chosen, but act as if you
are.Not humility (as with Luther), but push to
glorify God (be a tool of Gods will).
Life work is not to make money, but carry
out Gods work constantly. Rewards, however,
will come.
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So What?

• To what extent is your current society a
  reflection
• of the fall of the Roman Empire? Is
  recreation a
• diversion? An Epicurean escape?

• For you, to what extent is your leisure linked to
• your spirituality?

3. To what extent are you a product of the
Protestant Work Ethic? Is leisure and idleness
bad? Does leisure need to be earned? What
is more important to you, work or leisure?