Meaningful work PDF
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i Meaningful Work ii iii Meaningful Work ANDREA VELTMAN 1 iv 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Veltman, Andrea, author. Title: Meaningful work / Andrea Veltman. Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016006380 | ISBN 9780190618179 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190618186 (ebook (updf)) | ISBN 9780190618193 (ebook (epub)) | ISBN 9780190618209 (online content) Subjects: LCSH: Work—Philosophy. | Labor—Philosophy. Classification: LCC HD4904 .V44 2016 | DDC 331.01/2—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016006380 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v Contents Acknowledgments and Dedication vii 1. Introduction 1 2. Work as a Human Good 35 3. Autonomous and Oppressive Work 71 4. What Makes Work Meaningful? 105 5. Is Meaningful Work Available to All People? 142 6. Value Pluralism and the Ethical, Social, and Political Implications of the Centrality Thesis 172 Selected Bibliography 213 Index 223 vi vii Acknowledgments and Dedication i grew up in a working- class community outside of Chicago, and before I became a professor of philosophy, I held jobs as a supermarket cashier, butcher’s assistant, delicatessen worker, bartender, data entry clerk, edito- rial assistant, and teaching assistant, among other odd jobs. These jobs instilled in me an appreciation for the impact work has on people, and this appreciation remains alive in discussions of work and well- being in this book. Indeed, I doubt I would have written this book were it not for the significant lifetime influence that working has had on me and on people around me. I wrote much of this book in the beautiful Rose Library at James Madison University, and I am grateful for the library and other nice spaces the university provides me for research, reading, reflection, and writing. I would especially like to thank the people who work behind the scenes at the Office of Interlibrary Loan at the Carrier Library for obtaining count- less books and articles that were integral to research for this book. I would like to thank the College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University for the award of a research sabbatical during which I wrote a significant portion of the book, as well as for summer research grants and funding for international conference travel that enriched my work on this topic. I am also grateful to the Department of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University for another research sabbatical that allowed me to complete the project, as well as for conference travel funding and for purchasing many books that I used in writing this book. I would especially like to thank Paul Gomberg and Nick Smith for very helpful written comments on the manuscript of this book, and Mark Piper, Erin Tarver, Erinn Gilson, Daniel Koltonski, Sara Gavrell, and Michael Milona for comments on segments of the book during its development. Thanks also to Lucy Randall, philosophy editor at Oxford viii viii Acknowledgments and Dedication University Press, for her support of the project and for assistance through the publishing process. Over the past several years I’ve presented aspects of this book at con- ferences, colloquia, and university- wide lectures, and I am grateful to the audiences and discussion participants at these venues for dialogue that shaped my reflection on the ideas of this book. Similarly, thanks to my colleagues and students at James Madison University for comments and thought- provoking dialogue on the role of work in human life and other philosophical issues surrounding work. Thanks also to my family and friends for their continuous love and support. This book is dedicated to the hard- working people of the world. ix Meaningful Work
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