In Praise of Idleness — Bertrand Russell

Starting question

Essay thesis

Russell argues that modern societies have inherited a harmful worship of work. His main claim is that the path to prosperity is not more moralized labor, but an organized reduction of labor. > A great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and... the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work.

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Inherited work ethic

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Russell begins inside the old moral training: 'Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying: Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do.' He says he 'acquired a conscience' that kept him working hard, but his opinions underwent 'a revolution.'

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The reversal

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The central reversal is that the modern world suffers from too much work, not too little. Russell gives it comic force through the Naples beggars: when a traveler offered a lira to the laziest, eleven jumped up and the twelfth got the coin. > I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous. He then jokes that YMCA leaders should 'start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing.'

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In Praise of Idleness — Bertrand Russell

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Essay thesis

Inherited work ethic

The reversal

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