Page:Philosophical Review Volume 20.djvu/268

254 This last is the point of view of what we may roughly call the modern theory of labour. Labour is a way by which man controls the resources of nature for human ends. These ends are all summed up in the life and order of society, which is a specific whole of human beings existing for the promotion and maintenance of man's well-being in all its forms. Hence to toil for this consciously is by that very fact to aim at securing human well-being. There is no other reason or justification for labour except that in the long run it secures this end; and this one end is coincident with the very existence of society. To toil is thus to share in and promote the good of the social whole, and be a constituent part of it. This at once establishes the place and worth of labour to the social organism. Society is constituted by the combined efforts of individuals after a common good, at once connecting them together and furthering and sustaining the individual good of each. To aim at this end is the business of a moral life; to accomplish this end in any degree is to establish and maintain a society. The life of society and the life of morality, therefore, are coincident. They are to one another as the words of a sentence to the meaning of the sentence. Now labour is a function directed by and towards this end. For labour at once connects a man with his fellows, and further sustains his own individual well-being. These are the ultimate elements constituting the meaning, nature, and end of labour. Labour connects a man with his fellows, for it is an activity exercised for others, for those who direct the labour and pay the labourer, for those who want the labour done, for those dependent on the labourer. It connects a man with his fellows also in virtue of the fact, so prominent and necessary in modern industry, of co-operation and division of labour; for if we divide the labour required to secure a certain result, say, building a house, we must also have co-operation amongst the men who perform each his specific part in the whole. Again, labour furthers the individual, well-being of the labourer for it is the expression of his individual will, the sphere in which he manifests his character and abilities, the sphere of opportunity for exhibiting honesty and sincerity of purpose; it gives him a claim on society, e.g., in his right to