RFLA 200H 05 - Labor, Leisure, and Culture (CRN 10766)

This course will examine several aspects of labor and leisure. Through the works of Josef Pieper, Wendell Berry and others it will raise questions such as the following: What is leisure and what is it for? How is leisure connected to what it means to be a human being? How do modern ideals of ‘busyness’ ‘usefulness’ ‘efficiency’ and others present obstacles to the cultivation of meaningful leisure? Is the vice of sloth connected to boredom and inability to enjoy meaningful leisure more than it is connected to laziness? How is leisure important for stepping back from and critiquing cultural assumptions from within? What does it mean to be connected to a place, and to labor in a way that has regard for preserving that place? Through raising these questions, we will gain insight into modernity and the fundamental changes in the rhythms and shape of human life it has wrought.