Why do we work?

Question

I was asked this question in my phylosophy class once. Don't just answer "to pay bills" or "because we have to." THINK about it. Curious to read the responses and award 10 pts!

Answer 1

To feel useful and to help find meaning in our days. If we are good at what we do, we want to start agian the next day.

Answer 2

We work becuase we do.
if i was in phylosophy classes at my school it would help alot.
but.. from a freshman in highschool here goes.

the job you have is a way to tell the world how good you are doing in life. bill gates for example is doing pretty good becuase he is known probably in most countries at a really rich dude. but some bum hobo dude living on the streets who probably helps people bring their shopping bags to their cars, he is not well known and not doing the best in life.

yeah it seems in these days that the more money you have the better you will be, and technically to get more money you sort of need a job, something you work at. unless you are the child of a richrichrich person, then its unfair.

i think work is also a way to express yourself. you get to chose your job and education. you do not always get the job you want but you have choices, decisions to make.

i guess it all does go down to "to pay bills" and "to try to prove your life is better"

Answer 3

But what if the answer really is TO PAY BILLS. Right now, I'd quit if I didn't have a house and college bills to pay for....do I think it would be wonderful to work only for the mental pleasure I could receive? Absolutely. But then I would need to do something that I felt was really personally rewarding....as opposed to working to pay the bills

Answer 4

I think it's because it's essential for our daily lives. Think of doctors. Without doctors who would cure and save people? Also, some people are driven to do those jobs... any type of job, actually. It's part of self-fufillment. It makes them feel good about themself and especially when they are able to perform the job they love. Also, there is other reasons why people work. For example there's those who must do it to support their families. Like my parents who must work to support their home. If they don't work there's no money to pay the bill or to buy food and we all suffer. It's a necessity to some and an obligation to others. I would say it depends on how lucky you are.

Answer 5

Well, lots of people historically have not "worked" in the traditional sense (especially writers, artists, and recluses who withdrew from society).

Most people today, to maintain their middle-class American lifestyles, work to make money. If I "need" a car or "need" cable TV or "need" all these material things that cost more than they're worth, then I need to work. The problem is that we're too easily convinced we "need" things that we in fact do not "need" at all and so feel trapped in our "work" for the "needed" money.

But, really, any and all kinds of work give one a sense of accomplishment. I love sleeping in every day during winter break and on weekends just as much as the next person, but you can't sleep all the time. And most of us, in spite of how much we claim to hate our current jobs, would honestly be depressed if we had nothing to do with ourselves or our time, had nothing to work on and change and fix and improve, had no one who needed us. So even rich people do certain types of "work" (volunteering or philanthropy or golf or hobbies). Lying about, doing absolutely nothing, is impossible. You would go mad.

Can we consider hobbies a form of "work"? I would say so. You're doing something engaging that feels worthwhile. You feel needed, you have a place to fit into the world. I don't think work is something one must always feel alienated from, or feel that something is not "work" unless he or she hates it. It is just something useful and productive to do with oneself.

Answer 6

I don't think that it is even possible to live without doing something. Since the question was raised in your philosophy class I would quote from a widely known philosophical book called Bhagvad Gita wherein the Lord himself teaches his disciple Arjuna that escape from action is impossible for anyone. Not only that It's not possible for even the Lord himself. I think it is in the chapter four if my memory serves me right.

Answer 7

It's not called an occupation for nothing. Humans need to feel needed, productive, and useful. On another level, society is a hierarchy, and there must be workers on the bottom for there to be extreme wealth on the top. To maintain the status quo, we've been taught to regard those who don't work as greedy, lazy, and useless.

Answer 8

I ask myself this question a lot. I have an aversion to anything that resembles work. I wonder why I am expected to spend my time doing things I don't want to do (work) when I didn't even ask to be put on this planet. We work because we think we need to in order to get things we want. I am willing to consider other options, but the these usually involve compromising one's morals.

Answer 9

Well it depends what do you call work? Going to a place of business everyday and working 9 to 5? Do you also consider the mom/dad who stays home and takes care of his/her children work? I think this is one of the toughest jobs but noone seems to bring that up?

Answer 10

Because is it the socially accepted thing to do, but no working we cannot achieve goals, whether in business or socially. If we don't work we are classed as lazy, a bum or some other socially unacceptable term.

We all want to fit into a group us against them, we don't want to be a them. Think about school we all wanted to be in the in crowd.