Reality of work, as a habitual human activity, isn’t easy to be verbally expressed. The author makes a conceptual approximation to work through its ethimology, history and some precise definitions. He will allow us to see how large historic transformations hide the distinction that is revealed in society’s division of antagonic clases, between lords and slaves. He analyzes how in the occidental culture, work has been seen more as a punishment than as a right and it has also been seen as an obligation or responsibility, and this moral responsibility of working emerges from different sources, which are explained in this essay.

Castigo; dolor; labor; trabajo intelectual; trabajo físico; profesionales liberales; trabajos serviles