In defence of meaningful work as a public policy concern

Keith Breen

pp. 139-161

in: Allyn Fives, Keith Breen (eds), Philosophy and political engagement, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

Breen critically examines the arguments put forward by those for whom ethical considerations either do not play or should not play a role in modern politics. Breen challenges three distinct claims to the effect that the demand for meaningful work, grounded upon an ethical ideal of such work as partly constitutive of a good human life, is either not a significant, a feasible, or an acceptable concern of public policy in liberal capitalist societies. Based on a detailed examination of the work of Jürgen Habermas, Will Kymlicka, and Alasdair MacIntyre, among others, as well as a thorough analysis of the possibilities for meaningful work in modern economic contexts, Breen provides a timely analysis of the place of ethics in both politics and philosophy.

Cited authors

Habermas Jürgen

MacIntyre Alasdair