[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 2 - Work & Man

Follow the Full Series Here:
[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 1 Introdcution- https://tinyurl.com/2p9xyesy
[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 2 Work & Man- https://tinyurl.com/4sb6swz3
[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 3 Conflict of Capital & Labor- https://tinyurl.com/5n6k7t8u
[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 4 Rights of Workers- https://tinyurl.com/5achk4hz
[Laborem Exercens] Chapter 5 Spirituality of Work- https://tinyurl.com/347bfbem

An audio presentation of the third section of Pope St. John-Paul II 1981 Encyclical Laborem Exercens: On Human Work commemorating the 90th anniversary of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum.

Chapter II of Laborem Exercens John-Paul II discusses the importance of working and dives into the impact work has on the human person. He guides us through the Biblical text of the Genesis and examines what it means for human beings to "subdue the earth." He further explores the intimate connection between the human person and the rest of creation.

He argues through the Genesis narrative for the fundamental good that is work. It opens for us how God willed creation would unfold with human participation. That our productivity here on earth contributes to God’s on-going creation of all reality.
This Biblical narrative reveals certain truths about man’s existence.
1) Humans are made in the image and likeness of God.
2) God linked us with creation as we are made from it, like molded clay.
3) God intended man to work.
Even before the curse of toiling in labor, from the beginning, God willed that human beings would be productive with the resources of creation. Like our creator who divided the waters, established the firmament, and brought forth the universe from the “tohu wa-bohu”; we too bring froth life and form in this world.

The Pope goes on the discuss work in two senses: 1) Objective sense and 2) the Subjective sense. Work as technology and content, and work as human experience. This is a philosophical perspective of work derived from John-Paul II’s work in Phenomenological and Personalist Philosophy. What is important here is to remember JPII’s definition of “person” which can be found in his 1960s work Love & Responsibility. “A person is an objective entity, which as a definite subject has the closest contacts with the whole (external) world and is most intimately involved with it precisely because of its inwardness, its interior life.” To briefly explicate, work itself is a subjective activity that a human person does to objects external to themselves. The product of work then informs the person working about something of who they are as a worker. It’s a kind of hermeneutical cycle, where the worker, does work and produces something, and this reflexes back to the worker informing them what kind of worker and person they are. If one does work that is degrading, the workers sense of humanity is informed by this degradation.

Ultimately, the product of work is always the human being. This is because, as mentioned above, work reflexes back to the worker informing them who they are. Work ultimately should build up the dignity of the person. However, undignified work, or work that produces negative consequences degrades the dignity and identity of the person as made in the image of God.

0:00 - 4. In the Book of Genesis
5:25 - 5. Work in the Objective Sense
10:30 - 6. Work in the Subjective Sense
15:59 - 7. A Threat to the Right Order of Values
20:21 - 8. Worker Solidarity
27:33 - 9. Work & Personal Dignity
32:12 - 10. Work & Society: Family & Nation