Post by Heejung Chung

What is life, and how best can we live it? the Korean German philosopher Byung-Chul Han notes that "we have internalised the capitalist work ethic to the degree that our successes and failures weigh heavily on our individual shoulders. The primary result of the achievement society is burnout – the emotional, cognitive and physical exhaustion that comes from the pressure to constantly achieve." Which Fabian Dekker has kindly linked it to my own work the flexibility paradox, where the autonomy over one's work has led to workers feeling the need to work everywhere and all the time, rather than enhance our freedom and leisure time. The article goes on to say "German philosopher Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) in his work ‘On the Meaning of Life’ (1927) writes: ‘[T]he deification of work as such, the great gospel of our industrial age, has been exposed as idolatry.’ and the true meaning in life can be found only in those things that ‘exist for their own sake and carry their satisfaction in themselves,’ only in ‘free, purposeless action … which in fact carries its purpose within itself’. For Schlick, the true meaning of our lives can be found only in play." yet it is possible for our work to become play but to do this, tha author argues that we need to reject the idolisation of efficiency and productivity, and centrality of work and rather put human creativity and joy at the centre of what we do. "Capitalism, which subjects workers to severe productivity demands and induces crises of overproduction, is antithetical to a playful society." Interesting. What do you think? Brigid Schulte Lynda Gratton Alex Soojung-Kim Pang Bruce Daisley Pedro Gomes Brendan Burchell Helen Hester Will Stronge Just a note to add: God I love German Philosophers/sociologists. They seem to be so much better at these deep thinking work around capitalism and work - is it the language???