ABSTRACT
Karl Marx was a curious mix of idler and workaholic. He was often distracted from his important work by petty disputes, domestic chaos and illness. In many ways, Marx was not simply a detractor of work, he was a utopian defender of its singular virtues. This very optimistic attitude to work, rather than being contradictory, was affirmed by a systematic and often profound philosophy. To live, humans have to destroy, transform and create, just like animals, this is the basis of all work. Humans do not just work when they have to, they construct, write and cook out of curiosity. The American philosopher John Dewey pointed out that humans like all living things, are tightly interwoven with their environment. In Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, the philosopher set out an ambitious theory of man, work and the environment, workers could be understood not as isolated individuals but as creative creatures intimately related to the environment.
