Leah Goldrick answers the question posed above in this guest essay.
The essay was first published on Common Sense Ethics, Leah’s excellent blog.
Leah writes:
I've just finished reading Aristotle's
Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life, by classicist Edith
Hall. It's a great book that I would recommend for my readers, as Hall
capitalizes on popular interest in ancient philosophy and substantive
self-help. Aristotle addresses the issue of how to live a good life in
his Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics, written in the
fourth century BC. In Aristotle's Way, Hall codifies
Aristotle's most important ideas on how we should live, addressing topics such
as happiness, love, communication, and mortality, among others.
Chapter Seven of Aristotle’s Way is all about Aristotle’s
philosophy of leisure, which I think is one of the most interesting chapters,
and that's what I'll be writing about in this post. If you want to read a
review of the entire book, I recommend this one by Donald Robertson, since I'm focusing on only a
part of it here.
Aristotle’s philosophy of
leisure is tied to his broader understanding of human
flourishing. Aristotle thought that most people tend to misuse leisure
time if they haven’t learned how to spend it meaningfully, preferring instead
to spend their non-working hours on trivial pleasures and amusements. However,
learning to use leisure time for growth oriented pursuits can greatly improve
our lives. Let's examine that idea in depth in the next sections.
What is Aristotelian Leisure?
Aristotelian
leisure encompasses not just what we might think of as recreational activities
today like hobbies and sports, but rather, everything broadly we do outside of
work. This includes relaxation after work, eating and fulfilling other bodily
functions, and amusements to avoid boredom. It also includes forming
relationships with others, enjoying the arts, spending time on exercise and
intellectual contemplation, crafts, civic association, and other beneficial and
meaningful activities. For Aristotle, leisure isn’t simply about taking
breaks or escaping from work; it's a fundamental aspect of a well-lived life.
At the core of Aristotle’s ethics is the concept of eudaimonia, translated as
"flourishing" or "well-being." The ultimate human goal is
living in accordance with reason and achieving a life of virtue. To reach
eudaimonia, one must engage in activities that are fulfilling, meaningful, and
promote personal growth. Leisure, in this context, is not a passive activity
but is deeply connected to the active cultivation of one's intellect and
virtues. In the Nichmeachean Ethics (Book X, 1176b) Aristotle
writes: “To be always seeking after amusement is a sign of levity and not
of a serious purpose.”
In today’s world, where leisure is often viewed as idle entertainment or seen
merely as a break from work, the concept of Aristotelian leisure offers a
richer and more profound understanding of what we should be doing with our
time; leisure involves reflection, growth, and the pursuit of intellectual and
moral development, not just passive distraction. Aristotle argues that leisure
is the time in which we can engage in these activities, which allow us to
connect to the highest aspects of our human nature. This could include
philosophical conversation, artistic creation, or scientific inquiry. These
activities are seen as valuable in themselves—not just as means to an end.
In essence, Aristotle’s view of leisure encourages us to think of it as time
for self-improvement, exploration, and the cultivation of virtues, rather than
merely a time to "rest" from work. Aristotle also believes that
leisure is essential for cultivating friendships, which are vital for living a
good life. In a sense, leisure time allows for the development of meaningful
relationships, as people have time to engage in shared activities that promote
mutual flourishing.
Work, Leisure and the Good Life
Aristotle obviously acknowledged that work and
productive labor are necessary for survival, and most people in the ancient
world that Aristotle inhabited worked tremendously hard. Aristotle also
thinks that work can be virtuous if done with the right intentions.
Still, work is secondary to leisure in the Aristotelian sense. Moreover, work
should not dominate a person’s life to the point where there is no room for
leisure, because without leisure, a person is unable to engage in the
activities that lead to personal fulfillment and virtue. Thinking about
leisure this way can be a helpful antidote to the burnout many experience
in the modern, work-centered culture.
From an Aristotelian perspective, you need not be defined by your job or
career, but rather by what you choose to do with your non-working hours. This
is good news for several reasons. First, the reality is that only a minority of
people are lucky enough to be able to make a living doing what they love. Most
of us will have work to get by, but it’s leisure that is truly important for a
good life. So, it doesn’t matter if you aren’t totally satisfied with your
career.
Best of all, even if you work a lot, you likely have more
leisure time available to you than the average person in Aristotle's day.
In ancient Greece, everything, even basic chores, had to be done by
hand. By contrast, most people in the developed world today enjoy access
to modern appliances and conveniences which free up more of our time for
meaningful leisure.
To wrap up the post here, Aristotle thought that how we spend our non-working
hours defines who we are, the kind of life we will have, and the type of
society we build. From this perspective, our leisure choices are more
significant than we may realize. Spending our leisure time meaningfully
helps us make sense of the world, experience growth, and contribute to
something larger than ourselves.
If you'd like to learn more about Aristotle's ideas on how to live well, I
highly recommend reading Aristotle's Way.
