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Work and the Good Life - PHL356

What value should we attach to work? Is it something we do just for the wages? Or does work have a value beyond that? How does work affect our identity? Should the availability and quality of work be left to the job market? Or does the state have responsibilities to provide decent work? In the first half of the unit we look at how some of the great philosophers of the past answered such questions, including Plato, John Locke, Adam Smith, Hegel, Marx and Hannah Arendt. Using these philosophical models, in the second half of the unit we look at the worries people have about work from a contemporary perspective. With a focus on issues such as unemployment, precarious work, disrespect at work and meaningless work, we ask how things can go well or badly with work and what might be done about it.

Credit Points: 3
When Offered:

S2 Day - Session 2, North Ryde, Day

S2 External - Session 2, External (On-campus dates: None)

Staff Contact(s): Professor Nicholas Smith
Prerequisites:

(39cp at 100 level or above) or admission to GDipArts Prerequisite Information

Corequisites:

NCCW(s): PHIL356
Unit Designation(s):
Unit Type:
Assessed As: Graded
Offered By:

Department of Philosophy

Faculty of Arts

Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
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