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Question Numbers : (136 to 140)
Read the passage below and choose the correct answer136 − 140
First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter" second. telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders. but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e., of advertising.
From the beginning of civilization until the Industrial Revolution, a man could, as a rule, produce by hard work little more than was required for the substance of himself and his family. The small surplus above bare necessities was not left to those who produce it, but was appropriated by warriors and priests. Much that we take for granted about the desirability of work is derived from this system, and being pre-industrial, is not adapted to the modem world. Modern technology has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right evenly distributed throughout the community. The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modem world has no need of slavery.
It is obvious that, in primitive communities, peasants, left to themselves, would not have parted with the slender surplus upon which the warriors and priests subsisted, but would have either produced less or consumed more. At first, sheer force compelled them to produce and part with the surplus. Gradually, however, it was found possible to induce many of them to accept an ethic according to which it was their duty to work hard, although part of their work went to support others in idleness. The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course, the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the large interests of humanity. Sometimes this is true; ancient Athenian slave-owners, for instance, employed part of their leisure in making a permanent contribution to civilization which would have been impossible under a just economic system. Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labours of the many. But those labours were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good. And with modern technology, it would be possible to distribute leisure justly without injury to civilization.
Read the passage below and choose the correct answer
First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter" second. telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders. but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e., of advertising.
From the beginning of civilization until the Industrial Revolution, a man could, as a rule, produce by hard work little more than was required for the substance of himself and his family. The small surplus above bare necessities was not left to those who produce it, but was appropriated by warriors and priests. Much that we take for granted about the desirability of work is derived from this system, and being pre-industrial, is not adapted to the modem world. Modern technology has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right evenly distributed throughout the community. The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modem world has no need of slavery.
It is obvious that, in primitive communities, peasants, left to themselves, would not have parted with the slender surplus upon which the warriors and priests subsisted, but would have either produced less or consumed more. At first, sheer force compelled them to produce and part with the surplus. Gradually, however, it was found possible to induce many of them to accept an ethic according to which it was their duty to work hard, although part of their work went to support others in idleness. The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course, the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the large interests of humanity. Sometimes this is true; ancient Athenian slave-owners, for instance, employed part of their leisure in making a permanent contribution to civilization which would have been impossible under a just economic system. Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labours of the many. But those labours were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good. And with modern technology, it would be possible to distribute leisure justly without injury to civilization.
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