LABOR

Labor is the heartbeat of human being. It is the daily, repetitive effort that sustains life itself. From preparing food and maintaining shelter to the routines of care that keep our bodies alive, labor is the activity that fulfills our most basic human needs. Unlike other human endeavors, like work and action, labor is cyclical and endless. It is what binds us to the rhythms of our bodies and to the earth. Over time, human labor can become so mundane that it is rendered almost invisible, and yet it is the foundation of everything that sustains us.

Ancient Greek philosophy is the body of thought that emerged in Greece during the 6th to 4th centuries BCE, focusing on questions about existence, knowledge, ethics, and the nature of the universe. It marks a shift from mythological explanations of the world to rational inquiry and logical reasoning. Prominent philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle philosophized concepts like democracy, justice, virtue, the nature of knowledge, and the role of reason. Their ideas set the stage for centuries of intellectual development and remain crucial in contemporary debates about ethics, society, and human existence.
In ancient Greece, to be free meant to have the autonomy and leisure to participate in public life, including intellectual and philosophical pursuits, without being bound by the necessities of labor or servitude. Freedom was largely defined by a person’s ability to engage in the political, social, and intellectual spheres of society, especially through the exercise of reason and self-determination. Free citizens were those who could afford to live outside the constraints of labor in order to devote themselves to philosophical contemplation, civic participation, and the cultivation of virtue. This freedom was, therefore, reserved for a select few and did not include women, slaves, and non-citizens in the privileges and responsibilities of free life.
Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle believed that philosophy, as the highest form of human activity, was reserved for those free from the demands of biological life, such as labor and survival. This view excluded anyone bound to cycles of necessity, which meant that women, and particularly mothers, could not be philosophers as they were deemed confined to the necessities of domestic labor. This early precedent in Greek philosophy set the capstone for a tradition of marginalizing those whose lives were rooted in rhythms of survival by limiting their participation in philosophical matters.
In ancient Greece, as in the early days of America, enslaved people were seen as entirely outside the realm of intellectual life and therefore excluded from participation in philosophy. As individuals bound to the necessities of survival, laborers were considered incapable of participating in the higher pursuits of philosophy, which were reserved for free citizens. Because they were excluded from discussing things like virtue, democracy, and beauty, the status of laborers as property rather than persons was reinforced. The marginalized status of women, workers, and enslaved people thus became ever more deeply entrenched in the Greek philosophical tradition.