The Soul of Work

The Greek word for work is ascholia. This word is the negation of the word schole
which means leisure. Similarly the Latin word for business is negotium which is the negation of
otium or leisure. Leisure was the ideal to pursue while work is what those do who are incapable
of appreciating leisure.
The contrast with our postmodern times is clear. For us, leisure is free time, time off
from work; time to be idle. For the ancient Greeks leisure was regarded as freedom for pursuits
that are pursued for their own sake. If I write books or compose music in order to gain money,
prestige or power then I am engaging in work. If I do so with regard to what is beautiful and
good then I am leading a life of leisure. Those who cannot do this become workers and support
those who are capable of leisure.
The ancient Greeks also made a distinction between labour and work. The word for
fatiguing bodily effort was ponos while ascholia as the manual production of something more
lasting and permanent. The world of labour is close to that of the animal. Primitive human
beings toiled to satisfy the pressing needs of biological life and survival. The world of work is
more symbolic. Human beings construct tools which lighten toil and help to produce a surplus.
Working produced work. The one who works produces more than his/her daily need. Working
produced culture. Labour catches the dinner to be eaten. Work constructs barns to store surplus
food. Labour may produce shelter but work constructs buildings to worship (religions), to hold
assemblies (politics), to defend against those who want to steal the wealth that work has
produced (war). The world is transformed through work. Nature is humanized through work
giving rise to culture.
These words are related to work but what do they have to do with ethics? Economy from
the Greek oikonomia means the art of managing a household. Oikos in Greek is house and
nosmos is manage. How one manages and what one manages brings ethics into question.
Related to nosmos is the world neimen which means to distribute. The words cautious, thrifty,
nimble, selective and frugal are words to be woven into an understanding of what economy may
signify. Economy is the system of arrangement or mode of operation. Economy points to the
functioning of anything. Economy is a structure or system of exchange. Economic means
having a practical or industrial significance, operated or produced on a profitable basis,
producing an excel of returns over expenditures.
Market from the Gothic marka means boundary and is related to the Latin margo which
means border and edge. To have a mark is to have an end or goal in view. A mark is also a sign
or something that gives evidence or something else. A mark may be an indication or token. A
mark indicates the limit of what is reasonable and acceptable. A mark is also an impression or
trace as in a scar or stain made on something. To mark is to set apart and to leave an impression.
To mark is to keep a close watch on something. A mark also refers to either a gold or
silver coil that weighs eight ounces. Market from the Latin mercatus means trade or
marketplace. A market is a meeting together of people at a stated time and place for the purpose
of traffic. A market is a place where provisions are sold. Market also signifies the course of
commercial activity by which the exchange of commodities is affected. The market is the sphere
in which price changing forces operate. When something is marketable it enjoys a high degree
of liquidity. Marketable also refers to the degree to which assets can be disposed of for cash
without causing a major decline in price. Market is also related to the Greek word marpein
which means to seize. To seize is to take possession of goods. The marketplace is an open

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square or place in town where public sales are held. It is also the sphere in which values
compete for acceptance. The marketplace is the site of aggressive competition.
Corporation refers to a body of persons associated for some purpose, such as a group of
merchants or traders united in an association. The word corporation relates to the corporeal. The
corporeal means relating to the body. The corporeal is that which is enjoyed with the body. To
incorporate is to form into a body and to make something organized. To organize is to unify into
a co-ordinated and functioning whole. To organize is to make ready. To organize is also to
persuade workers to form a union. The Latin organum relates to the Greek ergon which means
work. All work comes from the Body.
Industry from the Latin industria means diligence and effort. Indu means in or within
and struere means to build. Industry is that which builds something systematically with care,
attention and skill. One who is industrious is characterized by energy, effort and attention.
In literature, the spider is a figure of cunning, skill, industry as well as death. Like
industry the spider spins it web. It comes as no surprise that the industrial revolution
transformed spinning; the industry of thread and textiles. To spin is to cause to turn rapidly. The
economy is described in terms of a circle that spins with prosperity.
That which is spun out has a span. To span means to join and fasten. We find ourselves
spinning in the economy; in the circle of exchange, debt and profit. If we are to survive within
this restricted economy we must not spin our wheels. We have to find a way to span the distance
and move away from poverty towards prosperity. The Old English word span means the
distance between the thumb and little finger of an extended hand. Economy, work, ambition and
industry can be understood as the work of many hands. We work because things are not simply
handed to us. The Old English word spannen means to stretch and related to the Latin pendere
which means to hang. When in debt it feels as if we are stretched and hung out to dry. Pensare
means to weigh and to consider and related to the Greek word ponein which means to toil. These
old words give us a clue to understanding markets and economies which can stretch us thin as we
toil for someone else. Debt is often described as a weight and there seems no end to toil.
The spider as it spins lays a snare. The snare of economy is that we must spend. Our
economic self is caught in a span which means two animals driven together. We are yoked to the
economic machine. To be yoked is to have a heavy burden. It is to live in oppression and
servitude. The Latin jugum means yoke in terms of throat and neck and is found in the word
jugular. It is interesting to note how many hunting analogies are used to describe a business
transaction. For example that person has killer instincts for the market. The market is
described as a bull or a bear. He or she went for the jugular in the board-room.
It is possible to rise above the servitude imposed upon us by banks and financial
institutions? The word boie from 1154 means servant. It comes from the Old French world
embuie meaning one fettered or in chains. Here workers are compared to draft animals who
pull plows. The word team first meant a set of draft animals yoked together. The work
teamwork is first recorded in 1828 when the industrial factory was beginning to expand.
Teams need to be managed. Manage from the Old French manege means to control a
horse. The word manage was extended to business usage in 1579. The meaning of manage
retains its earlier character. To be managed means to lead, to be directed, to behave in a certain
way. One who is managed may be threatened, driven in order to secure a proper demeanor (to
behave in a certain way). Economy, in other words, controls our behavior. Ironically to be shifty
means To be able to manage for oneself (1570). This is something that the economy cannot
tolerate.

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 If economy arose out of agriculture, its roots are still with us. The Greek agros means
field. Economy concerns itself with fields and forces that compete for tracts or stretches of land,
air and water. Though economics has become abs-tract (to draw away) insofar as it has drawn
away from its agricultural roots, it retains its force through con-tracts that draw together. To
con-tract is to become narrow, to get smaller, it is said especially of a withered limb. The
contract constricts what may and may not be done.
There have been many de-tractors of the current free-market system which does not seem
free. The Latin word destractionem means to take down, to pull down and to disparage.
Economy continues to survive. It continues to be pro-traced. Its extension of time prolonged
and lengthened. Can there be a retreat or a drawing back on the present state of affairs? Retreat
is a place of seclusion (1423); an establishment for mentally ill persons (1979).
What traits or distinguishing marks are still to be outlined. A trait (c1477) is a shot or
missle. Writing can be a trait or missle leading to revolution. Think here of the writings of Marx
and others.
We can survey or take a liniear measurement of a tract of ground. Economics and finance
ethically speaking have little to do with linear, mathematical measurements. When we survey or
oversee (Latin supervidere) the details of the ethical blindness within the world of business and
economy who is to blame?
To supervise is to look over. The supervisor is one who inspects and directs the work of
others. The visor is the front part of a helmet that shades the eyes. Have corporations placed
visors so that ethical visibility is reduced? Has this visor-effect affected the way we deal with
others as we make deals?
Visibility refers to the range of vision under given conditions. Can one envisage or look
in the face of those fallen into the morass; a wet swampy tract of ground. The market wants to
ignore the poor and destitute. Economics would have the chosen few rise to the plateau- to the
elevated tract of land. But plateau also means the stage at which no progress is apparent.