tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post6800735776790359822..comments2024-03-28T08:57:53.180+00:00Comments on Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart: Strauss, Slavery, and Darwinian Natural RightLarry Arnharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-65152607925663941522015-02-17T21:09:49.446+00:002015-02-17T21:09:49.446+00:00Yes, and in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (10), St...Yes, and in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (10), Strauss indicated that originally the "liberal man" was defined by distinction from the slave, and thus liberality presupposed slavery. In a liberal democracy, those free men without leisure are "almost like slaves."Larry Arnharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-4030042456112561892015-02-17T19:33:50.861+00:002015-02-17T19:33:50.861+00:00"...the unnatural character of slavery seems ..."...the unnatural character of slavery seems to be obvious"<br /><br />"Seems to be obvious" is not the same as "is obvious."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-83791863987068541982015-02-06T02:17:38.483+00:002015-02-06T02:17:38.483+00:00Other earlier commentators had also noted that Ari...Other earlier commentators had also noted that Aristotle's "defense" of natural slavery, when read carefully, showed that most slavery in the Greek world was entirely conventional and not natural and that Aristotle fully understood this: <br /><br />Sir Ernest Barker in his book The <i>Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle</i> (1906):<br /><br />"Aristotle's doctrine may seem to us to defend slavery; it is quite possible that it struck his contemporaries as also an attack." (p.369 n1.) <br /><br />"So far, we have attempted to show that Aristotle's theory of a natural slave and natural slavery is, as all false theories tend to be, refuted by its own author in the course of its statement. For a false theory must always fall into inconsistency if it deals with all the facts and data of its subject... But if this theory of slavery is thus defeated by its own inconsistencies, one must at any rate admit that Aristotle himself supplies his own refutation and by his own full admission of the facts shows his width of view even in a false conclusion..." <br /><br />" if only the natural master, endowed with moral capacity, had a right to his position, and the merely legal master, or the master who rested merely on force, were disqualified: if, again, only the natural slave, whom Nature had left morally imperfect, could properly be a slave, and the Greek was exempt from slavery- then it is easy to see, the numbers of masters and slaves would be seriously diminished; <i>and the doctrine of natural slaves, far from condoning, would seem to challenge existing slavery.</i>" (p. 369) (my italics)Xenophonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09664620430604622777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-90051018872494193912015-02-04T20:30:51.456+00:002015-02-04T20:30:51.456+00:00Chapter 9 of Melzer's book (pp. 287-324): &quo...Chapter 9 of Melzer's book (pp. 287-324): "A Beginner's Guide to Esoteric Reading."Larry Arnharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-51365790069223908092015-02-04T20:05:27.314+00:002015-02-04T20:05:27.314+00:00The question of exoteric and esoteric writing has ... The question of exoteric and esoteric writing has come up in several recent posts. While it would not be surprising if thinkers of the past thought it prudent not to say all they thought, or to dress up their more disturbing thoughts in conventional garments that, privately, they would not wear, it seems that determining the esoteric teaching would require literary or historical detective work of a high order, and most of the little I've seen has none of that. Instead, what I have seen is: "Aristotle was a smart guy. His argument seemingly in favor of slavery is stupid. He must have known that. Therefore, he didn't believe it, and people able to see that his argument is stupid can thereby tell that he didn't favor slavery."<br /> Is there anything reasonably short I can read on the subject? I've read Strauss's <i>Persecution</i>, and that doesn't tell me what I want to know.CJColuccihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03691840821795365920noreply@blogger.com