By the Sweat of Your Brow Edited by Gene Callahan

An edited volume in the history of ideas

By the Sweat of Your Brow

The Concept of Work in the History of European Philosophy

Is work a curse or a calling, the enemy of leisure or a basic human good? Twenty-one scholars trace how the Western tradition has understood work, from Plato, Aristotle and the New Testament through Aquinas, Luther, Locke, Smith, Hegel and Marx to Weber, Arendt, Pieper, Oakeshott and MacIntyre.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground.Genesis 3:19

Purchase the book Table of contents ↓

Ford Madox Brown's painting Work: navvies digging up a Hampstead street in the sun while gentlemen, a flower-seller and ragged children look on

The Editor

Gene Callahan Gene Callahan New York University

Contents

  1. 1
    Introduction Gene CallahanNew York University
  2. 2
    Plato and Aristotle on Craft and Craftsmen James Bernard MurphyDartmouth College
  3. 3
    Work in the New Testament James AlexanderBilkent University
  4. 4
    Thomas Aquinas on Work Tamás NyirkosResearch Institute for Politics and Government, University of Public Service, Budapest
  5. 5
    The Spiritualization of Work: Luther and the Dual Vocation Orsolya HorváthKároli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
  6. 6
    Creation, Fall, and (Technological) Redemption: Francis Bacon on Work and Man’s Right over Nature Tyler ChamberlainTrinity Western University
  7. 7
    John Locke: Ownership from Labor Jason FerrellConcordia University
  8. 8
    Adam Smith and the Division of Labor Maria Pia PaganelliTrinity University
  9. 9
    Hegel on Labor William LombardoBoston College
  10. 10
    Labor of Love: Kierkegaard on Vocation Nathanael Blake
  11. 11
    The Abolition of the Division of Labor in the Work of Karl Marx Jonathan AskonasCatholic University of America
  12. 12
    The Protestant Hypothesis and the Spirit of Weber Gene CallahanNew York University
  13. 13
    Giovanni Gentile and the “Humanism of Labor” Spartaco PupoUniversity of Calabria
  14. 14
    Mises: The Disutility of Labor Gabriel F. Benzecry and Nicholas A. JensenMiddle Tennessee State University
  15. 15
    The Woman’s Soul as “Shelter”: Edith Stein on the Work of Women Sarah J. WilfordUniversidad de los Andes
  16. 16
    Michael Oakeshott and the “Deadliness of Doing” W. J. CoatsConnecticut College
  17. 17
    Leisure and Work in Josef Pieper’s Philosophical Anthropology Ferenc HörcherResearch Institute of Politics and Government, National University of Public Service, Hungary
  18. 18
    Hannah Arendt on the Triumph of Homo Faber and the Fragility of Human Action Josefina Araos BralicInstituto de Estudios de la Sociedad and Sarah J. WilfordUniversidad de los Andes
  19. 19
    MacIntyre on Work as a Practice Matías PetersenUniversidad de los Andes
  20. 20
    Some Contemporary Issues in the Philosophy of Work Gülşen SevenTED University
  21. 21
    The New Natural Law Theory and the Basic Human Good of Work Christopher TollefsenUniversity of South Carolina

Click on a chapter title to read its abstract, or a contributor's name to read their biography.