The Importance of Work for Life: A Sloterdijkian Perspective

The question what meaningful work is has received a lot of attention in recent literature. However, far less attention has been paid to what role work should play from a good work-life balance perspective. This paper applied Sloterdijk's earlier work on in-existentialism and his anthropology to the question of what the proper role of work in one's life should be. It was concluded that work remains a very vital sphere for self-realization in our present- day society. Without the work sphere, people would lose a meaningful way to express their 'semantic surpluses' and experience personal growth. In contrast, Sloterdijk's views on in- existentialism point us to the potential downside of an excessive identification with one's identity at work. Generally, the work-life balance seems distorted because work tends to occupy too much time and space in many people's lives. Whether this is the case in a particular life can only be assessed from the perspective of someone's personal trajectory.