An idea · Early Modern · first attested 1774
Kindred Labour (srodna pratsia)
Happiness is the work you were born for.
The heart of Skovoroda's ethics. Every person is born with an inclination toward a particular kind of work – their srodna pratsia, the labour akin to their nature. To find it and do it is the condition of happiness; a person forced into work foreign to them is saved neither by money nor by status, because they are living against their own being. From this Skovoroda judges society too: a state that puts people in the wrong places breeds misery, however well ordered it looks. The idea meets Aristotle's ergon (each thing has its proper work) and Plato's justice ("each doing their own"), yet Skovoroda roots it in self-knowledge: to find your kindred labour, first read yourself.