Caroline West, senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sydney, defends working 4 hours a day in order to be happy! She says in this Sydney Morning Herald article:In a lovely little 1932 essay, In Praise of Idleness, he [Bertrand Russell] wrote: "If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment – assuming a very moderate amount of sensible organisation."Lots of other insights there about comparisons, self esteem, treadmills, pride etc.
At the time this suggestion met with ridicule, but as the toll of long working hours on individuals, families and communities becomes increasingly apparent, the time for taking Russell’s idea seriously may slowly but surely be arriving.
Thoughts? Could it even be done?
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Pic of Betrand Russell
3 comments:
Justin - I'm wondering whether she's been reading Tim Ferriss' 'The Four Hour Work Week' which is quite the bestseller in this kind of work/life area?
There is certainly a hunger for fresh thinking in this area
Why on God's green earth are we still listening to Bertrand Russell?
this is what i would've said before the GFC:
in a [western] world where there's generally a) at least some unemployment, and b) too much money in people's pockets, i've often wondered why we must all have 40hrpw jobs and not share the love around. we don't need to hog an entire job just so we can have that much more moolah to grease our day.
that's what i would've said. i'd probably still say it today but think about my company a little more beforehand
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