Travail et loisir

In this contribution, the relationship between work and leisure is investigated from a phenomenological viewpoint. The insights of Michel Henry and his interpretations of the work of Karl Marx are prominent. Marx makes a distinction between objective and subjective work. It is especially the second sphere, on which Henry elaborates his phenomenology of the living body, as experience of life itself. Work is the mode of pathos. After this introduction, the question of the phenomenology of leisure is being posed. The phenomenological zero-point of leisure is the night, in which we sleep. The invisibility in the night is the starting point to reveal the essence of leisure. The phenomenological mode of night, rest, is sleep. Further, in this line, the problem of vacation, time spending on not-working as obsession is of importance for our society today. From the point of view of henriana phenomenology, some notable conclusion can be formulated.