The Ethics of Choosing and Refusing Work

Despite choices related to whether and how we work being among the most ethically significant choices individuals make, philosophers have said surprisingly little about such choices. This workshop aims to address this lacuna by putting researchers interested in the ethics of choosing and refusing work into scholarly conversation. Workshop presentations will address such questions as:

- What ethical principles or values should inform our choices of jobs and careers? What part ought considerations such as social utility, fairness, or self-actualisation play in those choices?

- Do individuals have a duty to work, and if so, to whom is that duty owed and what is its ethical basis? Can we make sense of an interpersonal duty to work by appeal to concerns such as reciprocity or mutual recognition? Do those who refuse to participate in the workforce (by trying to live self-sufficiently ‘off the grid’ for example) wrong others in any way?

- Under what circumstances is not working or refusing work ethically defensible? For instance, when are strikes or other work stoppages ethically justified? Are those who have enjoyed many of the benefits of work (for instance, older individuals who have had successful professional lives) ever obligated to forego work by retiring so that others can enjoy its benefits? Are those with sufficient wealth to make work a luxury rather than a need obligated to forego work? Can workers have obligations to refuse bad work in order to express solidarity with other workers or to exert pressure on employers to improve working conditions?

- When (and how) may states justly compel their members to work? Is it defensible for states to compel welfare recipients or prospective immigrants to work? Under what conditions is work an appropriate punishment, and should the state have the right to force prisoners to work? Are states justified in conscripting individuals to work (as part of military or national service, say)?