Subject: Aquinas and Slavery
Date: 	Wed, 13 Oct 1999 15:06:47 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)


This is probably a strange place to ask the question... but 
since I know that there are several religionists / 
historians on the list...

Does anyone know where I can find a good political / 
historical summary of Aquinas's thoughts on slavery?

Aquinas writes, in his essay, "On Kingship" - "Now the end 
which befits a multitude of free men is different from that 
which befits a multitude of slaves, for the free man is one 
who exists for his own sake, while the slave, as such, 
exists for the sake of another...."

I'm trying to determine if Aquinas thought slavery was a 
"natural" (just) or "political" (necessary evil).  From 
what I can gleam from this essay on kingship, he's taking 
the same line as Aristotle, which places it in the natural 
camp - since each person has a purpose, it is "natural" 
that some of these purposes would include slavery... 
although Aristotle did qualify this saying that slaves 
should be "educated" out of slavery... which kind of makes 
his argument about "nature" contradictory...
thanks,
ken