A job gives a person purpose, a reason to get up in the morning, to engage with the world and interact with fellow citizens in a common endeavor, however modest. And at the end of the week or the month, there’s the satisfaction of having earned, through one’s own efforts, the income that will enable oneself and one’s family to continue to survive and hopefully even thrive.
Whatever their other merits, arguments in favor of a UBI too often end up sounding like paraphrases of Karl Marx’s famous prediction that after the communist revolution people will hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, and philosophize after dinner. Think of the hobbies people will pursue once they’ve been freed of the burden of work! They’ll become entrepreneurs! They’ll paint! They’ll quilt! They’ll read! They’ll volunteer!
As in most matters, Aristotle was wiser when he recognized that, although a life of leisured self-improvement is humanity’s highest end, only very few are capable of thriving in such a life.
If you doubt it, just look at what so often happens to those who permanently drop out of the workforce after the loss of a job or an injury that qualifies them to receive disability benefits (which functions as a form of basic income support). Often the result is anger, purposelessness, and self-loathing.
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