Veltman, Andrea. Meaningful Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. 248. $90.00 (cloth)

Abstract

For the great majority of the world’s population, work is a central and key element of their adult lives. Work occupies an inordinate amount of our waking time; indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that our working lives are often a defining element of the narrative of our adult lives. Work is also a possible site of individual meaning and meaningful activity. However, somewhat surprisingly, it is a topic about which ethicists and political philosophers have, in recent years, said very little. Of course, the question was a mainstay of a great deal of utopian writing in the nineteenth century, but over the past century questions concerning the nature and significance of work in our lives have been little discussed. It is, I would suggest, extremely odd that political philosophers and moral theorists have said so little about meaningful work, and this is but one reason why writing on the topic is to be welcomed.