Work structures our daily lives, sustains social cooperation, and shapes our status and identity. Yet it is also associated with domination, inequality, and obstacles to the exercise of personal autonomy. The seminar explores the philosophy and ethics of work. It invites students to critically examine work, not merely as an economic activity, but as a practice that raises fundamental ethical questions about freedom, responsibility, justice. It aims to provide students with a systematic understanding of different forms of labor, including paid and unpaid work, precarious employment, and new forms of work, such as platform-based labor. Classical philosophical approaches to work will be studied alongside contemporary debates in applied ethics, political philosophy, and social theory.
Students will be guided to distinguish between different kinds of moral wrongs in work contexts, such as exploitation, coercion, unfair compensation, and structural injustice. Particular attention will be paid to conceptual clarity: when, and in what sense, is work exploitative? How do power asymmetries, consent, necessity, and institutional frameworks affect moral evaluation? Special focus will be laid on the resources that Kantian ethics offers to understand the phenomenon of exploitaiton.
Through close reading of philosophical texts, students will develop advanced analytical and interpretive skills. The seminar emphasizes the practical application of ethical concepts, enabling students to assess real-world cases. By the end of the course, they should be able to use key categories to formulate well-argued normative judgments about concrete work-related issues.
The seminar also includes a workshop designed to promote self-directed learning and verbal expression. Students will be expected to creatively present their research and engage in structured discussion with their peers.
Regular attendance and the timely submission of assigned tasks are mandatory to pass the seminar. To pass with a grade and to earn extra credit points, students must either submit a written term paper or complete an oral examination.
- Kursleiter/in: Marco Antonio Toche Zevallos