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A question courtesy of some slightly foolish teachers.

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WhiteGirl said:
I suppose that my response is due to my loathing of the concept of slavery, Although, biblically, the priest Eli says that slavery is normal and acceptable. But Eli also said that men should never cut their hair ,,,
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I think the same about slavery.

It could be that a society that discusses the unlimited rights of the slave owners, and puts some aspects of the ownership under the jurisdiction of laws and courts (particularly if courts could liberate slaves from irresponsible owners), is making the first step towards abolition.
 
malins said:
I guess this all depends on how several things come together ...

... is here a notion of "responsible use of property" or is there a kind of absolutist propertarianism - i.e. if you own something, that comes with no customary or legal responsibility toward society to put it to use in a 'proper' and 'productive' way that contributes collectively.

... is slavery always unconditional or is it sometimes conditional (as in the examples of debt slaves who are enslaved for a set period of time)

... and what is the default state of a person, if a master has been found to fail at his responsibilities of ownership, are there situations where the slave defaults to freedom, or does one say 'this slave must be owned by someone'

The judicial system interfering with, and punishing 'bad' slave owners might be something that the majority of owners who see themselves as 'well-behaved' wouldn't oppose ... the bad owners would be seen as shirking responsibilities that the good ones have to shoulder, and/or reaping short term profits that the good ones have to forego.

This would be less based on any idea of punishing masters for violating 'equal human rights' of slaves, but rather punishing them for failing to fulfill their duty to the greater society. And by definition a master's misbehavior would have to go far beyond 'the usual'. But I don't see that 'annulling slave ownership' couldn't be a possible sanction used against irresponsible masters in a slave-owning society.
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It's an imperfect analogy, but consider how animals are regarded in our societies today. They are property, and if they escape and are captured, they are returned to their owner. But, there are standards for their proper treatment (more for companion animals than farm animals) and if you mistreat them the SPCA will take them and you can be punished quite severely, which I totally agree with.

Now the law is evolving to grant more rights to animals. We had a case in New York recently involving a chimpanzee, where the state's highest court, while denying the particular case, affirmed that chimpanzees had legal rights. So I think the rights of a master over a slave would even in older days not be absolute, as I noted in my post above in the slave codes of various US states.
 
Loxuru said:
I think the same about slavery.

It could be that a society that discusses the unlimited rights of the slave owners, and puts some aspects of the ownership under the jurisdiction of laws and courts (particularly if courts could liberate slaves from irresponsible owners), is making the first step towards abolition.
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It's a tragedy that slavery still exists today. Not so visible but people are being exploited.
 
KageKamen said:
Hear, hear. There's a reason even my modern takes on slavery are firmly AU.
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When I was at school, I was taught that slavery was abolished in the nineteenth century (Britain, Slavery Abolition Act in 1833; the United States, 13th Amendment in 1865). Now, I am alarmed that slavery still exists, in various forms, all over the world.
 
WhiteGirl said:
When I was at school, I was taught that slavery was abolished in the nineteenth century (Britain, Slavery Abolition Act in 1833; the United States, 13th Amendment in 1865). Now, I am alarmed that slavery still exists, in various forms, all over the world.
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We got thaught the same : slavery was abolished (worldwide as it was perceived) with the end of the American Civil War in 1865.
 
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