The Artisan as Philosopher

Work as an expression of truth

Photo by Lars Kuczynski on Unsplash

Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its own methods and assumptions. Wikipedia

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In an economy dependent upon our participation as producers and consumers, I think losing sight of the nature of work is easy.

In our heroes' journeys, there are at least as many tragedies as triumphs; as many Macbeths’ are consumed by their own ambition as there are Erin Brokovitchs freed by dedication to a cause.

For the majority of us reading this, our work is the principal vehicle we have for understanding our place in the world and the determinant of what we leave behind that others might remember. It’s a cautionary thought.

Our work is the opportunity to shape what we work with, whether that is wood for a carpenter, molecules for a pharmacist, words for an author or legislation for a politician; whatever we do, our work is at heart philosophical. In addition to its necessary financial utility, it is a source of meaning we access daily and is where our experiences and values are forged into our personal philosophies over the fifty years or so we spend “at work”.

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.”
― Stephen Hawking

It would be easy to let this thought go down the well-worn meme of self-development, but an experience after I had started drafting this offered me a very different perspective. A trip to Cambridge that had been arranged for weeks, and for which I had opted to take the ecological rather than the easy route, and travel by train rather than car, was brought to an end by a combination of Victorian infrastructure and rail franchisee indifference. As I sat at Leicester, the 07:18 got joined to the 08:18 to become the provisional 9:14 (but ended up as something rather later, after I had abandoned my journey). I was struck by the quiet anger of a driver in hi-viz as he explained to increasingly angry passengers he had no idea when we would be able to leave whilst helping someone going to Stansted Airport canvas others who might want to share a taxi. This train mattered to him; his frustration was palpable. I wondered whether algorithms get so emotional when something goes wrong, and what else might be done with a lifetime of that sort of committed energy.

In psychology, a schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Simply put, a schema describes patterns of thinking and behavior that people use to interpret the world.

Somewhere along the way, “work” and “the economy” have become schemas through which we assess our time here. That seems more than a shame, when as Stephen Hawking put it earlier, we could spend more time gazing at stars than performance pedometers.

Schemas are both useful (they save energy) and deadly (they become outdated). System dynamics recognises a “universe” comprising three regions. Firstly is the ordered, stable region, where forces that disturb it quickly die out because they cannot get purchase (the components of the region do not communicate). The second is chaotic - there is nothing for the forces to cohere around. The third area between the two - “the edge of chaos” is the space of “phase transition” - where the new emerges. There are also “maladaptive” schemas - ones that were useful but under conditions that no longer prevail. The parallel with our workplaces is hard to miss. Much of our workplace is maladaptive.

Work is precious, and we cannot lightly let it be defined and determined by others. Whilst we find ourselves doing work in the maladaptive space, much of what we see and are energised by in the work we do sits in that place - “the edge of chaos” looking for somewhere to belong.

Whilst the current realities may dictate that we have to work for others in the maladaptive space measured in terms of efficiency and productivity, there is another space for that which we sense, see and feel that cannot find a home there.

I see that as an artisanal space where seeds can grow into shoots that are ready to take root in the more fertile ground of our own philosophy and deliver the work we want to do. The increasing challenge is finding that space when many organisations are driving ever harder into short-term efficiency and productivity and using AI to enhance what they already do rather than what they might do and to reduce costs rather than take exploratory risks.

It is easy to get carried away by busyness and the power of schema, but we should not. What happens at the messy, inefficient, lower productivity “edge of chaos” is shaping what happens next, and we would do well to spend time there, shaping it according to our values rather than leaving it to organisations.

I am posting separately at Outside the Walls regarding the space where those whose imagination and vision goes beyond that of the organisation they work with. At some point, the two - people and places - will meet….