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.Man has to subdue the earth and dominate it, because as the "imageof God" he is a person, that is to say, a subjective being capable of actingin a planned and rational way, capable of deciding about himself, and with atendency to self-realization.As a person, man is therefore the subject ofwork.As a person he works, he performs various actions belonging to thework process; independently of their objective content these actions must allserve to realize his humanity, to fulfill the calling to be a person that ishis by reason of his very humanity [Laborem Exercens, para 6; emphasisin the original].John Paul is unyielding in his argument that the subjective sense of work isthe more important.the primary basis of the value of work is manhimself, who is its subject.in the final analysis it is always manwho is the purpose of the work, whatever work it is that is done byman -- even if the common scale of values rates it as the merest "service," asthe most monotonous, even the most alienating work [Laborem Exercens,para.6; emphasis in the original].Although all too often modern economies and modern economics reduce workersto mere instrumentalities, stripping them of their authentic human nature, JohnPaul is clear and firm as to the need to belong.He describes this as "thedegradation of man as the subject of work" and approvingly asserts that the callto "solidarity and common action" was a reaction against this degradation[Laborem Exercens, para.8].But it is with regard to the need for creative opportunities that John Paulis most eloquent, instructing not from social ethics but theological doctrine,citing Genesis and Revelations (the first and the last book of SacredScripture).The word of God's revelation is profoundly marked by thefundamental truth that man, created in the image of God, sharesby his work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits ofhis own human capabilities, man in a sense continues to develop that activity,and perfects it as he advances further and further in the discovery of theresources and values contained in the whole of creation [LaboremExercens, para 25; emphasis in the original].John Paul cites Gaudium et Spes to make clear that he means work notjust of the most challenging and fulfilling kind but also work involving " even'the most ordinary everyday activities.[wherein men and women] canjustly consider that by their labor they are unfolding the Creator's work.' "[Gaudium et Spes quoted in Laborem Exercens, para.25; emphasis inthe original].The foregoing rouses two final comments.First, for economists there isnothing new in John Paul as to what work means in terms of the goods andservices produced.Nor is there anything especially novel as to what a lack ofwork does to jobless individuals and their families.What is insightful in JohnPaul is his call for consideration as to what work itself does to those who toilfor a living.Second, and very much related to the first, work is the main meansfor humans to have more and to be more.The choices they makein this regard powerfully determined who they are, what they are, and to whom orto what they belong.4.The references section contains five citationsto the work (in Italian) of Pietro Pavan whom Giovanni Tondini identifies ascritical in the development of John Paul's thinking on the nature andsignificance of work as such.Returnto place in textTonext chapterTableof Contents
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