Aristotles View of Slavery Essay -- Slave Slavery Aristotle Paper Ess

Born in the year of 384 B.C. Aristotle was seen as conventional for histime, for he regarded hard workerry as a natural lean of nature and believed thatcertain people were born to be slaves due to the fact that their soul lacked therational infract that should rule in a human being However in certaincircumstances it is evident that Aristotle did not believe that all men who wereslaves were meant to be slaves. In his book Politics, Aristotle begins with the Theory of The Household,and it is here that the majority of his views upon slavery are found. With thebeginning of Chapter IV, Aristotles idea of slavery is clearly defined. Theinstruments of the household form its stock of station they are animate andinanimate the slave is an animate instrument, intended (like all theinstruments of the household) for action, and not for productions. Thisdistinction between action and production, is based upon the understanding thatproduction is a course in which a result is desire d beyond the immediate actof doing. Where as, the simple act of completing a task is identified asaction. Aristotle, who believed that purport was action and not productiontheorized that slaves were instruments of biography and were therefore needed to forma complete household. In fact Aristotle went as far as to regulate that a slave wascomparable to a tame animal, with their only divergence in the fact that a slavecould apprehend reason. For he concluded that a slave and animals only use wasto supply their owners with bodily help. At the end of the Theories of the Household, Aristotle explains howslaves are different from andy other types of people, in the sence that they arethe only class who are born into their occupation and become property of theirmasters. In examining this relationship we find that he thought that whilemasters were the masters of the slaves, they still held a life other than thatof being master However, Aristotle believed that not only was the slave as lave to his master, but the slave had no other life or train than belonging.From this consideration we begin to understand Aristotles views on therelationship between Master and Slave. At the beginning of Chapter V of the Theory of the Household, thedistinct role of master and slave is defined. There is a principle of rule and subordin-... ... Aristotle we find that he was a man of greatcuriosity, wisdom and ideas. Although his views on slavery seemed to hold trueto the times, he had many variations on the conservative norms and beliefs. Hehad believed that slavery was a just system where both master and slave werebeneficial from this relationship. And with this he thought that by nature,certain people were born to be slaves, yet with these beliefs we find manyexceptions, where Aristotle allocates areas to describe those who by chancebecame slaves but in his opinion were born to be free. And in such incidencewhere men born free were not fit to be masters Aristotle exp lained how it wouldbe easier for the master to obtain a custodian who was more adept at givinginstructions to run the household and leave the master of the house to moreprudent issues. We can only chance as to what made Aristotle believe that by the humansoul one could delineate whether or not a man was meant to be a slave or afreeman. And with his arguments we find that it was just as difficult for himto make that distinction as well. Though it is not as easy to see the ravisherof the soul as it is to see that of the body.