Article July 24, 1978 ISSUE

What is a work ethic?

JACOB ROBERT MOON, JR.

These days we read a lot about the "work ethic," sometimes called the Puritan work ethic. We read that it is being questioned and challenged. But what is a work ethic?

The words "ethic" and "ethics" refer to systems of moral values and their underlying philosophy. The work ethic, then, has to do with a school of thought which holds that idleness is reprehensible and work an essential of moral living.

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