The Giftedness of Human Knowledge

Pieper takes the understanding of "knowledge as work" even farther. It's essentially a humanist claim. If all man's knowledge is attained by himself, then, he is the 'measure of all things.' This creates a much deeper problem. It begins to set aside the giftedness of our intellects and that our knowledge is a participation in divine knowledge. Participation admits of some giftedness and simultaneously of a passive reception of the gift. Knowledge as work, indeed knowledge only through deduction cannot admit of passive reception. It is rather active aggression.

A reflection on the second chapter of Leisure: The Basis of Culture