Leisure As…

1. 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

2. 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 Aristotle’s time? 3. Does modern government educate for leisure? 4. What material things, if any, do we need to experience leisure?

4. Rome and Middle Ages Stoics and Epicureans Thomas Aquinas Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic

5. 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.

6. 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 wasn’t the non-slave labor force to work.

7. 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 wasn’t worth the non-slave labor force to work. 3. Government and military corruption

8. 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 wasn’t 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

9. Epicurus (Greek 342-270 BC) • state is in shambles, so individual should • seek individual happiness

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Stoicism The Greek (Cypriot) Zeno and the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius

16. Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC) • City-state is corrupt, but don’t abandon it

17. Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC) • City-state is corrupt, but don’t abandon it • people rarely have control of their lives • (i.e., bad things happen to good people)

18. Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC) • City-state is corrupt, but don’t abandon it • people rarely have control of their lives • (i.e., bad things happen to good people) • so “stoically” accept fate in world

19. Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC) • City-state is corrupt, but don’t 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

20. Stoicism (Zeno, 300BC) • City-state is corrupt, but don’t 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

21. 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 man’s 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”

22. Marcus Aurelius (con’t) 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 person’s worth is in accordance with the way he busies himself.

23. Marcus Aurelius (con’t) 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

25. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD. • Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity • (found a place for God in Aristotle’s scheme) • (truth through faith and truth through reason) • (supreme law and natural law)

26. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD. • Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity • (found a place for God in Aristotle’s 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)

27. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD. • Aristotle is not inconsistent with Christianity • (found a place for God in Aristotle’s 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

28. Aquinas (continued) • first seeds of Christian work ethic in “will”

29. 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)

30. 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)

31. Max Weber (1864-1920) and the Protestant Work Ethic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (originally published in 1904) This is Weber’s writing about what happened, not his opinions of what is right

32. Spirit of Capitalism Acquisition of money is purpose of life.

33. 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).

34. 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).

35. 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).

36. 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

37. 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

38. Overcome Traditionalism(Greed is Not Natural) • The Dilemma of Piece-rate Work • (money cannot get people to work harder)

39. 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 isn’t right

40. 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 isn’t right 3. Only educated people work hard in their jobs???

41. 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 isn’t right 3. Only educated people work hard in their jobs??? 4. Leisure is bad, at least diversion from important work

42. 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

43. 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

44. Salvation of Consumerism (Hunnicutt) • Aren’t 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

45. Leisure as Consumption (Hunnicutt) • Make leisure a consumer product • Leisure is not as an alternative to work, but a new reason to work.

46. Luther’s 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)

47. Luther’s 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

48. Luther’s 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 us;our job is to discover that role and stay there. By good acts, humility, trust in God – we get to heaven

49. John Calvin (1509-1564) Calvinism Predestination

50. 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 God’s will).