Political thought- Aristotle Views on Slavery

1. Views on Slavery
by
Aristotle
Presented by -
SanketGogoi
B.A., LL.B (Hons)
Dept. of Law, Guwahati University

2. The person who is not his own men is a
Slave.
According to Aristotle-
Slaveisalivingpossessionandpropertyof
hismaster.Thoughhehassufficientpower
tounderstandandfollowreasonhehasno
reasoningpower

3. In order to develop-
1.Moral and
2.Intellectual Excellence
P.S.-Development of these faculties needs
leisure which can be provided only my
slavery.

4. Three Grounds on which Aristotle justified
Slavery-
1.Natural.
2.Usefulness.
3.Expediency.

5. Natureprovidesdifferentpersonswith
differentqualitiesandordainsthatsuperior
shouldruleovertheinferior.
Acc.toAristotleanothergeneralruleof
natureisthattheinferiorshouldbe
subordinatetothesuperior.
Naturehasendowed themasterswith
intellectualstrengthandbestowedphysical
strengthontheslaves.

6. Aristotle asserts that masters should be free
from material worries so the they may be
able to concentrate on the public affairs.
Aristotle says that slavery is not only useful
to the master but also to the slave, because
he is also to share the virtue of his master
and get elevated.

7. Aristotlesaysthatduringhistimeslavery
playedavitalroleinthemaintenanceand
operationoftheGreedeconomy.Amajor
portionofthepopulationresidinginthe
city-stateconsistedofstatesandtheir
emancipationwouldhavegreatlyupsetthe
balanceofpowerinthecity-stateand
damagethesocialfabric.Thiswouldhave
givenrisetosocialdisorderandchaos.

8. First,Aristotlewronglyassumesthatsomeare
borntorulebecausetheyareintelligentand
virtuous.Thisiscontrarytothemodernnotions
ofequalitywhichassumesthatallarebornequal
andsomedevelopthefacultieswhichequipthem
toruleoverothers.
SecondlyevenweacceptAristotle'sconception
thatonlysuperiorshouldruleovertheinferior.
OntheotherhandAristotlepresumesthe
existenceofonlytwoclassesthemasterand
slaves.

9. Thirdly, Aristotle treats slavery as a hereditary
institution and asserts that some people are by
nature slaves.
Finally, his theory of slavery is also contrary to the
notions of social justice. On the other hand he
considers the slavery essential to enable the masters
to devote themselves fully to the service of the
society, but on the other hand he does not
acknowledge their importance or properly reward
them for their services. This is clear violation of the
notion of social justice