Justifying Slavery

[ChronoSul]

With modern ideals and ways of thinking? No slavery cannot be justified. But if we were to return to old ways of thinking like 17th century or earlier than yes by looking at history one can say that it was justified at one point. Although it is highly unlikely for us to ever to return to those believes so this it cannot be justified

[Azadina]

How and who is going to chose the 10% that are going to be slaves for the wellbeing of the world?
When they die how do you replace them?

You seriously think that for the benefit of the "greater good" some people deserve to be treated lower than human shit?

"for the greater good" Is horrid justification when it comes to harming others to achieve the "greater good".

[Deleted]

you own me 500 usd , i say that 10 days of you working for me . Now you suck my dick for free and we are both happy

[Deleted]

The ancient Greeks (and I guess Romans too) had quite an interesting view on slavery. The Greeks believed it is actually better to be dead than live as a slave. This meant that if a slave didn't kill himself, it meant that he deserved to be a slave, because he was too coward to take his own life to escape the slavery. I remember reading this sort of opinion on Aristotle's writings somewhere.

[Deleted]

The ancient Greeks (and I guess Romans too) had quite an interesting view on slavery. The Greeks believed it is actually better to be dead than live as a slave. This meant that if a slave didn't kill himself, it meant that he deserved to be a slave, because he was too coward to take his own life to escape the slavery. I remember reading this sort of opinion on Aristotle's writings somewhere.

wtf is this shit , slaves in greece was a social class

[Aeluron Lightsong]

No, everyone deserves to be a free man(Or woman) to chose their fate.

[May90]

No, everyone deserves to be a free man(Or woman) to chose their fate.

What about imprisoned criminals?

[Azadina]

What about imprisoned criminals?

They chose their fate when they committed crimes. Crimes that have punishments, one being the loss of freedom.

[oxymoronic]

Would you, honestly, be willing to be a slave in those terms?

If your answer is No, then that's your answer. If the answer is Yes, report at my house, immediately.

no more than i choose to be poor while others are billionaires

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Well the slavery was beneficial for the blacks in the long run.

this is true and wish more people would respond with it when talking about slavery. it needs to be recognized.

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When people think of slavery they only think of Africa's brand of it. If it was a system like ancient Greek was rather beneficial for all involved.

how was it not good for the africans?

[May90]

They chose their fate when they committed crimes. Crimes that have punishments, one being the loss of freedom.

Well, then "everyone" should be taken with a grain of salt. Since criminals don't deserve to be free men/women, someone else might not either. In the US 150 years ago slaves weren't considered to be deserving to be free men/women, because they weren't entirely human, in people's opinion. In some countries, people speaking out against "glorious leaders" aren't deemed deserving freedom.

I'd say it differently: everyone deserves humane treatment. Some people need to be isolated from the society, because they cannot peacefully coexist with it, but even so they should be treated decently. Otherwise, we created a precedent of violation of equality principle, which in the Western law system can lead do dangerous consequences.

[Darkeon]

no more than i choose to be poor while others are billionaires

Work on something great and rise to the ranks.

Slavery, however,.... it's an entire different beast than what you are suggesting.

[dextersmith]

Can slavery ever be justified? I think, under certain circumstances, it can be, though these circumstances are highly unrealistic.

It was justified by Americans and others way back.

[DJ117]

It uplifted the Negro primitives.

[kail]

Economically, it's amazing.

Ethically, it's disgusting.

[Adam Jensen]

Criminals doing work to pay for their crime? I guess. But even criminals need to be paid, they need some money if they're going to be rehabilitated into the world. So maybe not even then.

[Hammerfest]

Can slavery ever be justified?

It was justified in the ancient world, but that form of slavery didn't look like what we had in the early life of the United States. The idea of owning a person's labor is inherently different than the idea of owning a person.

[tiki854]

Pretty much everyone here replied to my first example of slavery to increase wellbeing within a state. How about the second justification, to implement slavery in order to reduce the total amount of slavery in the world in the long run? Before you answer "no it's always wrong and never right", consider that by taking that position, you would ensure more and greater amounts of slavery in the future. Consider that...

[shoc]

It's insane to talk about slavery as if it's purely historical when there are 21 million modern day slaves.

[tiki854]

It's insane to talk about slavery as if it's purely historical when there are 21 million modern day slaves.

It says 19 mil out of the 21 mil are taken advantage of by corporations, meaning exploitation. That might be horrid, but it's not truly slavery as meant in this thread. Exploitation is subtly different than coercion, after all, nobody is forcing them (per se) to work. They just have no choice but to work or starve, but it's still morally different.

[Dellis0991]

Can slavery ever be justified? I think, under certain circumstances, it can be, though these circumstances are highly unrealistic.

Consider a society where everyone's well-being is at some relative level 1.0, this being average well-being. Now consider that 1.0 is a horrible life, barely above starving, and you could increase 90% of the population's wellbeing to 2.0 (decent to rich life) if you enslave the other 10% of society and reduce their wellbeing down to 0.1

Also, from an international perspective, imagine if you're the only nation-state that does not practice slavery because you find it morally reprehensible, but every other state in the world does practice slavery. You, as the morally superior state, wish to protect your values, but your economy is failing and you know your state will crumble in a matter of decades. And furthermore, assume that enslaving a small portion of your population is the only way to avert the collapse of your state. Wouldn't it justify slavery, because then your state would survive and ensure that the minimal amount of slavery occurs in the world?

Slavery is NEVER justified and may the bastard who think it is rot in hell.

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Well the slavery was beneficial for the blacks in the long run.

No it was not.