Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents

Long before Alasdair MacIntyre or Stanley Hauerwas were reminding us of the significance of historic teaching about virtue, Josef Pieper (1904-1997) was writing confidently about virtue and the virtues. Pieper is best known today for his 1952 book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture. When the book was published, The New York Times enthused “Pieper’s message for us is plain. . . . The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless know-how, the infantile cult of youth and the common mind — all this points to our peculiar leadership in the drift toward the slave society. . . . Pieper’s profound insights are impressive and even formidable.” While the Times may not be quite as excited about Pieper today, we’re pleased to present a primer on Pieper’s ideas in this Audio Reprint: “Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents.” This 1999 essay by Roger Kimball introduces listeners to Pieper’s arguments about the nature of leisure, which are claims about the nature of philosophy and of human well-be