Alain de Botton - The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2024
  • RSA Thursday - The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
    Alain de Botton; renowned essayist, philosopher and founder of 'The School of Life' examined the nature and function of work in this thought-provoking lecture.
    Most of our waking hours are spent at work, and yet we rarely challenge the basic assumptions that lie behind this time-consuming, life-altering activity.

ความคิดเห็น • 78

  • @HughMorristheJoker
    @HughMorristheJoker 8 ปีที่แล้ว +85

    “Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery.” Shakespeare

    • @arbenkqiku8880
      @arbenkqiku8880 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Hi Dear Stranger! Thank you for this quote, I like it very much it =)
      I went to look it up and the author is actually Andy Warhol, I thought you might be interested in knowing.
      Take Care.

    • @HughMorristheJoker
      @HughMorristheJoker 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      No, it's Shakespeare

    • @arbenkqiku8880
      @arbenkqiku8880 8 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      "I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of "work" because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep." This is a quote from him of his book " the Philosophy of Andy Wharol. Chapter 4.
      I also looked up William Shakespeare and some people attribute this quote to him, however I was unable to find the exact passage. Would you be so kind to provide the source for me?
      Thanks in advance.

    • @TaylorInsight1
      @TaylorInsight1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      lol that struck me as funny

  • @dddmemaybe
    @dddmemaybe 9 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    The simple idea that he kept me imaginatively absorbed for 23 minutes with just his words means his books are probably really good. xd

    • @Quinefan
      @Quinefan 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      dddmemaybe Read them yet? ☺

    • @gracetallar3468
      @gracetallar3468 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      His books are fascinating but his thinking is a treasure.

  • @fatihokhider
    @fatihokhider 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Alain de botton is very good speaker / writer...!! I really enjoyed the way he is covering a subject..! He is articulate when introducing this book of his specially offices atmosphere or protocole rather ...! I like his charisma...!

  • @barbusrex
    @barbusrex 6 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    This is why I love Melville: There's no other US writer that I'm aware of that has such a profound take on how work shape's human souls.

  • @CaraLiebe
    @CaraLiebe 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Outstanding! I like the combination of education and humor in your speeches, as well as how you incorporate notes from your own life. Keep up the good work....I hope to attend one of your speaking engagements- please come to Boston!

  • @monroe444444
    @monroe444444 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Me too. M. de Botton has stated that he has not touched the inheritance. I get the sense that many are envious of his intellect and accomplishments.

  • @KKayKim
    @KKayKim 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Im 25 but ive been in love with his books since i first encountered at 13.. Thank you thank you heaps =)

  • @petestrat07
    @petestrat07 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Just came across this dude tonight. what a brilliant mind!

  • @TaylorInsight1
    @TaylorInsight1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    so glad I discovered you thanks Alain

  • @TheTrueKailash
    @TheTrueKailash 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    great speaker, love his ideas.

  • @rahmiaksu
    @rahmiaksu 10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Just because you don't experience something first-hand does not actually mean you are incapable of understanding it as if you experienced it. It is called empathy. I didn't know he was rich before you told me even though I watched a lot of his documentary work, which says a lot. I admire his ideas and work regardless.

  • @warrbarrt
    @warrbarrt 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Fascinating!!

  • @IsaacWebers
    @IsaacWebers 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great lecture.

  • @shizzle1903
    @shizzle1903 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This man is awesome

  • @MrKevinfoxdamata
    @MrKevinfoxdamata 11 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This guys brain is mind blowing !

  • @Jan96106
    @Jan96106 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Moving soul song about the sorrows of work: "That Lucky Old Sun" (Tom Jones best version.)
    Up in the mornin', out on the job, work like the devil for my pay.
    But that lucky old sun has got nothin' to do
    But roll around heaven all day.
    Fuss with my woman, toil for my kids
    Sweat 'til I'm wrinkled and gray.
    While that lucky old sun has got nothin' to do
    But roll around heaven all day
    Good Lawd above, can't you know I'm pinin'
    Tears all in my eyes.
    Send down that cloud with a silver linin'.
    Take me to paradise.
    Show me that river.
    Take me across; wash all my troubles away.
    While that lucky old sun, has got nothin' to do
    But roll around heaven all day.

    • @veroptrix
      @veroptrix 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Louis Armstrong's version is the best

  • @sgsknights
    @sgsknights 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    It reminds me of Marx's Estranged Labor. Love the video.

  • @Randall_Kildare
    @Randall_Kildare 8 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I have the exact same problem that Alain claims to have at 11:30 . People will tell me of their obscure vocation & it may as well have been conveyed in another language?! I often get the feeling that, they themselves have no idea of what it is exactly, that they do...

  • @milsumla
    @milsumla 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    he is a philosopher. just because i'm not you, doesn't mean i can't start to understand your jealousy. just because you are you doesn't mean you can understand your own jealousy.
    even if he hasn't experienced the downsides of life like you claim, this man has serious insights. his ted video speaks for itself. amazingly intricate for a man you might believe hasn't had a need for pessimism.
    it is also a fallacy to believe you need to suffer to be rewarded. you assumed too much.

  • @MuathGhrouz
    @MuathGhrouz 8 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    I wonder where this man have been hiding.

    • @emdareful
      @emdareful 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Muath Ghrouz at The School of Life

    • @anacarolvp
      @anacarolvp 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      School of Life. It's super interesting. Check it out!

  • @Icariusnatarius
    @Icariusnatarius 11 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Writing books is a work, and a lot harder worker than anyone could even understand. The stuff about inheritance is possibly false, but even if it is true, it doesn't matter. Money isn't magic that makes every problem go away, of course you don't die hungry, but that isn't everything there is to be a human. Like they say, you can't buy love with money, or a meaning to a life lived.
    Also judge what he is saying, not what he is.

  • @dtawantawng5131
    @dtawantawng5131 7 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Alain talks not of work in the general sense, but rather in the very particular sense of career related work. This excludes millions upon millions of workers not only in Western society but in world society who toil for at best minimum wage and at worst extortionately meager dividends.
    Minimum wage work is compartmentalized and stultifying to the highest degree, as well as meaningless and insufferable. I would be keenly interested to hear Alain's analysis of this type of work.

    • @tomgeorgearts
      @tomgeorgearts 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I agree. I've read the book and it's great, but in other talks he seems uninterested in people outside his rather privileged bubble. His scenarios are all about graduates who go out to restraunts, read Proust, go skiing and think about their careers. He knows nothing about people with the hardest problems.

    • @Fluffiie1
      @Fluffiie1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Tom George
      I would love to listen to him talk about these things, like Noam Chomsky does, yet I would be surprised that he doesn't know about them. I suppose he mostly doesn't want to have a political approach. Maybe he will at some point.

    • @johnbarrett5229
      @johnbarrett5229 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You are incorrect. Minimum wage work can be great. I did it for years and even at times when I was barely making it, I worked at whatever job I could find. People are afraid to do this today. I worked in landscaping. I drove a bus. I've washed dishes in a restaurant. I've hung sheetrock, I've painted houses, cut lawns, shoveled snow, cleaned gutters, worked as a janitor, worked in radio promotions, banking, research, podcasting and now at the age of 55 I've very thankful (to all who came before me who inspired and taught me and to myself for working hard) that I was able to work hard and build muscles and problem solve and that I can do many things. I don't need to hire a landscaper to do landscaping for me or plant a tree - I've done this work (and still do) for years and consider myself a pro at it. I don't need to hire someone to fix a lamp or furniture - I know how to do it myself. I fix my own walls, do my own painting, I can tile a kitchen (did it), frame a wall (done it), write a professional letter to a local politician (done it), I can use ProTools to record music and conversations (do it), I can play the piano, write poems and short fiction and I can pen a fine, heartfelt letter to a friend should she or he need uplifting. I can do basic wiring in a house. I can do basic plumbing and trouble shooting for HVAC systems.
      Remember friends: Historically poor people knew how to do more than the wealthy - precisely because THEY HAD TO!
      Work builds character and skills. Even flipping burgers can teach a person how to work as a team, how to be good at flipping burgers, how to show up on time, budget the money you make, save some and maybe even some basic communication/people skills. Having been a janitor, I do all my own cleaning - including for my short term rental.
      "Be thankful (to God or Mother Nature or yourself or whoever or whatever you believe in...) each day when you wake up that you have work to do. Keeping busy and working hard will build in you a thousand virtues that the idle never know." Sorry but I can't remember who wrote that - was on my Mom's refrigerator for many years.
      NOTE: Young people and young men in particular: STOP and think before you get married and have a family.
      If at the age of 25 you have a wife and kids and have to work 60 hours a week or 2 jobs to make ends meet, then you MAY WISH you had WAITED to have a family until you were a bit more financially stable.
      Guys . . . wear condoms or masturbate more. I'm not kidding. Get those strong urges UNDER CONTROL .........OR you will end up getting a young woman pregnant and then you'll be supporting a family on minimum wage.
      And if you are reading this and think I'm full of BS, think again.
      I know a young man who taught himself computer coding and went from working in a grocery store to coding for a small company. He's learning a ton of new skills each week that he'll be able to take to the next job and eventually . . . the sky is the limit for those who work hard.
      You can do anything you set your mind to - including sitting around bitching and moaning.
      Begin by purchasing this book: Jordan B. Peterson: 12 Rules For Life. I you feel stuck in any way, this book will help get you unstuck. And if you suffer from depression, find a way to learn Transcendental Meditation (TM) and to self-administer EMDR . . . . but ONLY AFTER really reading about it and understanding the risks. It's not magic but it's pretty damn close. Same for the TM. Turn off the TV and never turn it on again. Walk every day and drink filtered water. Stop eating processed foods and enjoy whatever foods you like. Avoid sugars and processed foods most of all.
      : )
      JB

    • @conxitallopart5870
      @conxitallopart5870 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@tomgeorgearts Maybe this is why he doesn't write or give lectures about that

  • @jcbairmaster73
    @jcbairmaster73 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I really cannot see this man as having done too much work to have much to say on the joys or sorrows of it.Empathy or not,I like to take such as him with me for a day or three,and see how much pontificating he did then.Another person making a fucking good living from doing nowt!

  • @spetsnaz5
    @spetsnaz5 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yeah, I wanted to hear about Goethe!

  • @girabbit
    @girabbit 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Y u edit at 8:50?

  • @fuxholeu
    @fuxholeu 10 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I don't have time for work; life keeps me too busy.

  • @sniperquasi
    @sniperquasi 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ty

  • @phucnguyen-je3vr
    @phucnguyen-je3vr 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    how did you do it can you share with me , thank you

  • @BlondeVagabond28
    @BlondeVagabond28 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    A lot of interesting points. I wonder how dead-end minimum wage jobs or jobs that one really doesn't enjoy, but are all that's essentially available, would fit into this schema.

  • @grimmgrr
    @grimmgrr 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    The Fisherman Story is a case in point pls read it if you havent

  • @gloriasangermano3687
    @gloriasangermano3687 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Original ideas

  • @HexxuSz
    @HexxuSz 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    pleasures of work? i have been working for 7 years and i have changed about 5 or 6 fields what pleasures

    • @someonesomeone25
      @someonesomeone25 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      There are none except for the very few.

  • @ElectricityTaster
    @ElectricityTaster 11 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I'm a work drop out.

  • @tomgeorgearts
    @tomgeorgearts 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The section from 9.10 demonstrates the worst aspect of this talented man. "You shouldn't eat that kind of biscuit because they are specifically targeted at women on a low income living in the North" (gales of laughter from the RSA audience). It was a joke but very revealing; there is no chance that there were any poor Northerners in the audience to take offence. De Boton lives in a bubble, coming from a very privileged background and speaking exclusively to cultured, literary middle-class graduates - a.k.a. the chattering classes. The people that suffer most from psychological stress in our society and most in need of psychological tools to relieve it are those in economic hardship, but with all his ideas and philosophical training he makes no effort to reach them. The School of Life events all seem to be in London and having watched several of the videos I have never seen a black person in the audience either. For someone who aims to disseminate philosophical ideas for the greater good, I think he's being lazy at the very least and risks looking like an elitist snob.

  • @justcurious4060
    @justcurious4060 8 ปีที่แล้ว

    19.41.. ik think, it is fear .....evrything ... fear about what other people, family etc, would tink .. neighbour u name it ,, Fear!

  • @domzaruga
    @domzaruga 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Max Weber wasn't it?

  • @grimmgrr
    @grimmgrr 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    for example all businesses wanna know your financial state not whether you have a bmw or a 50 inch screen

  • @omotexoman9860
    @omotexoman9860 ปีที่แล้ว

    Friday is a holy day of the week for Muslims. There is a special group prayer.

  • @jasoncha1973facup
    @jasoncha1973facup 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    How sad to use another person's critique of Alain which includes being derogratory of his personal appearance. There are very strong arguments against De Botton's philosophical opinions and presentation but I feel your comments are as to quote Charlie Brooker, "lighter-than-air."

  • @chuaTapia
    @chuaTapia 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    @1:30 His 4 year old son? I didn’t know that Alain have kids.

  • @grimmgrr
    @grimmgrr 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    i disagree more often than not money is the only goal as it has become a product in its own right (save it , sell it, etc)

  • @Marenqo
    @Marenqo 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    @1yellafella
    marx nephew?

  • @theresajohnson5452
    @theresajohnson5452 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    he may have come from a financially privileged background but read up on his father. the rest of his background was very underprivileged.

    • @theresajohnson5452
      @theresajohnson5452 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      if you had a loving good father would u trade.

  • @justcurious4060
    @justcurious4060 8 ปีที่แล้ว

    i guess cone head's are smarter, ty

  • @MrScallyman
    @MrScallyman 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    ...which he has decided not to touch- read up on him and you will find that due to his father's self made attitude he was brought up having the importance of work and not taking things for granted drilled into him

  • @1yellafella
    @1yellafella 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    @Marenqo Yes, or I guess Marx's Son-in-law?

  • @xXxRELIEFxXx
    @xXxRELIEFxXx 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

  • @grimmgrr
    @grimmgrr 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    erm they all have the same goal....money

  • @ifnotnowthenwhen9063
    @ifnotnowthenwhen9063 ปีที่แล้ว

    I never understood why people are so funny about mc Donald s job when almost everyone enjoys a happy meal.Doing this job is more appealing then seating all day in boring office

  • @NowWeAre6
    @NowWeAre6 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    hahahaha I still think there's room for someone to point out the bleeding obvious

  • @teamcrumb
    @teamcrumb 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    @teamcrumb more to the point this is why their 'writing' is bad. because they only write about versions of the world they think are writerly. because they think they are on a different shelf to their students. they have given them selves a biased grammer, they rehash minimised values and interests, missing out on the wealth of human experience and brilliance even when the day lived in by those human beings may be something that isn't easily relatable on social networking sites or in stories

  • @greimalkin
    @greimalkin 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Random assortment of ideas. ..

  • @beegood1215
    @beegood1215 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Like the company he admired -- a lot of talk going nowhere.

  • @chumadoshi6987
    @chumadoshi6987 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Ritalin...talk with your MD

  • @rahmiaksu
    @rahmiaksu 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    ok "mum", what did you think about the speech itself?
    TH-cam - Helping the deranged air out personal grievances every day...

  • @GrumpyOldMan9
    @GrumpyOldMan9 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Perhaps he knows about the pleasures of work, but I doubt he also knows about the sorrows. This guy never had and never will have any work sorrows. He inherited a $300 mllion trust fund from his dad, Gil de Botton.

    • @jayhanna3712
      @jayhanna3712 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Becoming a philosopher and helping people with their lives is better than a typical trustfund baby who spends their time doing cocaine and wasting around.

  • @Bastiat90
    @Bastiat90 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    He's boring and conventional. He's like Stephen Fry in the sense that people equate a fruity accent with profound intelligence.