Human_Beings_Are_the_Only_Animals_with_an_Existential_Need_for_Work.

Work is unavoidable feature of our daily lives for almost of human beings. Immanuel Kant claims that humans are the only animals with an existential need for work (Svendsen, 2008). The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines that work is “expenditure of energy, striving, application of effort or exertion to a purpose”. Without work, human beings would simply be bored to death because work provides human’s lives with content. And then, work can be meaningful. The need for meaning is a fundamental human need. In addition, work provides human beings with a sense of self-realization. Human beings can recognize themselves in the world that they have created. Firstly, work provides human’s lives with content. Not only is it generally good for human’s physical and mental health, but life without work would probably fill human beings with despair. Immanuel Kant argues that entertainment cannot fill human’s lives with content in the long run. People fill their life only with entertainment will feel increasingly lifeless (Svendsen, 2008). Human beings expend their energy, striving, or application of effort to achieve a purpose and satisfy their personal needs by work. People do a sport or physical activity for entertainment only can fill this function in the short period. However, work can enrich lives with content in the long run and provide an existential need for human beings. Secondly, work can be meaningful. The need for meaning is a fundamental human need and work is one of the primary sources of such meaning. Thus, some work has a great potential for meaning and strong impact on human’s lives. For example, according to BBC news article (2009), consist of convicted offenders serving community sentences called community payback teams. The offenders clean the street and plant trees in the city. This is worthwhile work which will benefit everyone who visits, works or lives in the area and provide meaningful work experience for those serving community sentences. In a word, human beings are the only animals with strong and different emotions in the world. It means people can identify how to find the existential need for work and meaning of work impact human’s lives. Finally, work provides human beings with a sense of self-realization. People need self-realization that it gives them opportunity to share their knowledge and experience with other people (Xxris, 2009). Work for self-realization is a specific conception of the good life rather than passive consumption (Jon Elster, 2009). Since ancient times, human beings need to work everyday to satisfy their needs and desires. With the rapid development of society, work gives us a sense of purpose, an identity and a social network. Moreover, work is not only for external consumptions, such as money and monetary gain. Human beings work and transform the internal goods, this is essential for the realization of human subjectivity. When the purposes of work transform from external consumptions to internal goods, human beings can recognize themselves in the world and identify an existential need for work. In conclusion, work provides human’s lives with content and can be meaningful. It can satisfy human’s existential need and impact human’s lives. On the other hand, work provides human beings with a sense of self-realization. People work for internal goods can recognize themselves in the world. Human beings are the only animals with different emotions and realization of subjectivity. People can find an existential need for work and enrich their lives. Therefore, human beings are the only animals with an existential need for work.