The disutility of labor; a category of action

Hi Lawrence,

We discussed this in some depth before. See this thread and the two Iinked to in that OP, one of which has almost exactly the same title as this thread.

I think you’re basically correct, although I explained it in a slightly different way. But one part that seems incorrect is the bolded part:

I would say it is impossible to objectively define through observations what is labor and what is leisure, as I think you are attempting to do here. Whether an individual is performing labor or leisure is entirely subjective. Is he performing the activity for it’s own sake, or for the rewards he will have when he finishes the activity? We can’t know just by making observations; we need to know his motivations. As I see it, labor and leisure are two different types of actions, however some actions (actually most actions) are a mixture of the two. For example, I might enjoy reading a book, but I am not reading it purely for pleasure; I am reading it to become more knowledgable about the subject of the book. In this example, my action is a mixture of labor and leisure.

P.S. Was it you that I was chatting to yesterday on youtube?