The Moral Status of Leisure in a World with Ongoing Moral Catastrophe

Abstract

In this essay, we argue that counter to the dominant narrative, many commonly practiced forms of leisure are morally impermissible. Specifically, we describe how for many people, in many circumstances, the practice of leisure cannot be reconciled with the pursuit of an ethical life. We also describe how certain leisure practices, which we identify as morally significant, are permissible. In short, we contend that in a world with ongoing moral catastrophe, leisure must earn its claim on our lives and our resources. To do so, we draw primarily on the work of Peter Singer. We begin by introducing Singer’s rescue principle, and then extending it to the context of leisure. We conclude with a discussion of the potential implications of our argument for a variety of stakeholders, including scholars, practitioners, and members of the general public.

Keywords:

• Ethics
• leisure
• morality

Notes

1 Some readers will take issue with our description of the dominant narrative surrounding leisure. In response, we would note that although there are scholars who examine the negatives of leisure, they do so as part of a counter-narrative. The names used to describe these lines of inquiry—e.g., “deviant leisure,” “taboo leisure,” etc.—lend credence to the idea that these discussions approach leisure from a perspective that is outside the norm. Rojek (1995) provides the following assessment of the situation, arguing that “Leisure studies has no worthwhile tradition of investigating deviant leisure forms; indeed it is no exaggeration to claim that, throughout its history, it has effectively ignored the subject of deviance” (p. 83). Other more recent publications (e.g., Williams, 2017) have made similar calls for greater focus on non-normative leisure and negative leisure outcomes.

2 We use the term ‘moral catastrophe’ throughout this essay to refer generally to the most pressing moral problems that exist in our world, without committing ourselves to a precise account of what these problems are at any given moment. The prior work by Singer that we draw on here mainly focuses on death and suffering caused by poverty. This is certainly a pressing moral problem, but it is not the only one—suffering on the part of nonhuman animals, potential suffering on the part of future generations, and environmental problems whose moral badness cannot be reduced to suffering (e.g., species extinction, destruction of ecosystems) represent other kinds of moral catastrophe. We choose to use a broad term, rather than focusing on one specific kind of moral bad, because this essay is mainly a reflection on what is required in order to live a moral life in a world that contains moral bad that one can do something about; the essay does not provide a theory of how we should weight the various kinds of moral bad that our world contains.

3 It takes a much lower level of material wealth to qualify as “wealthy by global standards” than it takes to qualify as wealthy by the standards of an affluent country (e.g., the United States of America). According to data from the World Bank, the poorest 50% of the global population lives on $6.70 per day or less, while the median American lives on $57 per day (Roser, 2021). However, because the United States is a relatively wealthy country, $57 per day is not considered wealthy by American standards. Singer’s principles, which we discuss below, imply duties for people who are wealthy by global standards, not just people who are considered wealthy by the standards of affluent nations.

4 The benefits of alternative courses of action that we forgo when we choose a given course of action.

5 Singer does not specifically describe what may constitute moral significance. We provide a framework for understanding moral significance specifically in the context of leisure below.

6 Conventional morality, unlike Singer’s moderate principle, holds that it is permissible for a person to choose to spend their own money on luxuries, rather than on alleviating moral catastrophe.