Abstract

The current crisis in the ‘work-society’ has implications for future educational policy. This paper explores some of the philosophical issues of relevance here. It starts with the meaning of ‘work’ and the claim that work should be central to our lives. It then examines the arguments that Richard Norman and Sean Sayers have provided for work as a basic human need, concluding that the case has not been made out. A section on the place of both autonomous and heteronomous work in personal well-being is followed by one on education and the future of work.