Can one imagine life without work? A life based on a closed cycle of eating, drinking and luxuries? It may seem like something of an ideal for which everyone seeks to escape from misery, but it may also be in complete conformity with the circle of animal life: the animal, in turn, seeks nothing but the satisfaction of its biological needs in order to survive. What, then, distinguishes a rational being? And if the work is a progression from the level of animal to the level of humanity, then what is the true essence of it?
Before work appears
The meaning of the work took many forms in human history, and it developed with the passage of time, the difference of civilizations, and the emergence of many philosophical and intellectual currents, each of which contributed to formulating the true essence of this act, each according to its own principles and vision. In order to understand this, we try to return together to the starting point: to the first man or “prehistoric man,” so to speak, whose human activities were limited to hunting, reaping, and living in caves in order to survive.
Work was for the latter nothing but a means to the continuation of existence, and he did not have this conception in our minds of work in the modern sense, at least in the sense that the Oxford Dictionary lists as an activity involving an intellectual or physical effort undertaken to reach a result or achieve purpose in a societal context
Prehistoric man had clear paths: whatever activity he does is to ensure the continuity of living: I do, therefore I am, no more, no less. He did not have a specific vision of meanings, the essence of life, the meaning of existence, human relations, social organization, and so on. His life in its entirety did not exceed the degree of satisfaction of biological needs, sometimes he struggled for that nature, and he often benefited from it.
How is this benefit achieved? Here is the horse’s anchor: he used to take what he satisfies his needs directly from nature, in its raw form, without taming, altering, changing or adding. It eats raw meat, is covered with leaves, and lives in natural caves. Does it add its own touch? It hasn't really made it to that stage, not yet
Work and the industry of civilization
With the passage of time, man moved from the stage of hunting and collecting the bounties and fruits that nature gives him to the stage of agriculture and industry; None of the purely receiving to contribute to the manufacture. This transition from primitive man who was occupied by nothing but eating, sleeping, hunting and sex, to a person who builds huts, grows wheat, and makes tools for that using animal bones, then iron later, and weaves clothes using silkworm threads, and so on, contributed to the evolution of business concept
He thus brings nature under his control, and adds to its elements his own touch: there is change, there is taming, and therefore there is work.
Work is man's encounter with nature. - Karl Marx
It moves from the stage of nomadism from one place to another, to the stage of stability, in huts and houses or at the rivers, to the act of civilization, which in essence reflects the act of Bedouin, where the nomadic system prevails and social relations are absent. The human being here adapts everything in his way of natural elements for the sake of urbanization and building a society that is indivisible from the act of making civilization, according to Ibn Khaldun.
There is also a theory in urban sociology that “everything raw belongs to nature, and everything cooked belongs to culture.” With time, man began to cook natural products, that is, to restructure them, and in parallel with that began to form the elements of culture. The Japanese kimono, for example, is not like the Scottish skirt, despite the fact that they are made from the same raw material found in nature. The same applies to Italian pizza and Maghreb couscous. The civilization of Mesopotamia, for example, was based on agriculture, the ancient Egyptian civilization was based on industry, and so forth; These constituent elements of culture also contributed to the making of a civilization and the strengthening of what distinguishes it from others. The transition of man to work is therefore an inevitable transition to the manufacture of civilization: this is the first essence of it
Work and thought industry
With the rise of Greek civilization, and the spread of the act of philosophy in an exceptional and remarkable way, the concept of work began to expand more and more, until class differences became based on it. Effort was limited to slaves, citizens were excluded from that, and physical labor became associated with a less valuable social group.
In Aristotle's view, physical work, for example, is nothing more than one of the distractions that distract the honorable person from thinking, interest in politics and possessing virtue. It is one of the reasons that lead to the necessity of class differences in society, determined by nature according to genetic and social factors, thus determining who will be the slave, and who will be the free citizen. Aristotle believes that manual labor is a natural compulsion, and that man exists for a higher and more noble end.
This stage is one of the stages of the development of the concept of work, and despite its extension to the Roman civilization later, its promotion of humiliating class differences, and the continued existence of the slave class in societies, it contributed to the emergence of the first human classification or division of work, and denied the idea that work is related to physical effort only, it is of two types Physical labour, intellectual labour. Preoccupation with politics, the practice of teaching, thinking about the surrounding phenomena, reflecting on values and formulating theories, do not leave his space as well.
The second essence of the work tells us that civilizations cannot exist without an intellectual reference, a theory, or a tight vision, no matter how sophisticated the physical act in them, because this bodily action aims first and foremost to satisfy biological needs, so what about psychological, intellectual, and spiritual needs? Athena is an example of this. Within its territory, many ideas calling for virtue and morals, and the rejection of vices, flourished.
How does work liberate one? How does he enslave him?
In the dialectic of “master and slave” formulated by the German philosopher Hegel, the latter sees that the slave is in fact the master of his master, because by his work and his awareness of things that others do not know, he made his existence recognized first, and secondly indispensable. The slave who is willing to sacrifice his life and face death in the course of his work has thus achieved the title of freedom, even if he is in fact owned. He has been liberated from the captivity of nature by confronting and subordinating it, and liberated from the captivity of his master by being surrounded by matters greater than himself. Another essence of work along the lines of strengthening social relations is the achievement of freedom
In the nineteenth century, this dialectic changed the idea that physical labor was restricted to slaves in Europe. Religious reform movements and human rights activities also contributed to this, and with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, the concept of work began to take a different direction, and acquire an obligatory character on different spectrums of society.
Returning to the idea of freedom again, there are acts that subject a person to slavery in its comprehensive sense, even if he is free, and the society's view of its owner controls this. A cleaner, for example, and no matter how much others claim to appreciate his work, they classify this work as a second degree. A doctor is better than him even if the latter causes the death of innocents, and a teacher is better than him even if he commits a crime against the minds of poor children. Why? Because the societal outlook classifies others based on their actions. It was necessary for the work to achieve one's self, similar to achieving a societal benefit, in order to guarantee the freedom of its owner
Do you remember the play Al Zawarib? She pointed to the point of self-proof by working in the role of the cleaner, which was brilliantly performed by the artist Rafik Ali Ahmed, who was able to prove himself and achieve his freedom by being the bravest, wisest and smartest of the neighborhood boys, despite the fact that others view his work, until he released his famous saying
Show me your junk, I'll tell you who you are. - Zooaribe play
It is a new formulation of concepts, contrary to the prevailing norms, but it does not contradict the truth, and it succeeds in achieving freedom despite the type of work
Good luck, and see you at the top
