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An Argument Against Slavery in the Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

JOSEPH GONDA
JOSEPH GONDA*
Affiliation:
York University
*
*<[email protected]>
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Abstract

The Republic contains: (1) an implicit argument that slavery is unjust, (2) a bar against Greeks having Greek slaves that (3) allows barbarian slaves. The scholarship has failed to notice the first, that the second is a performative addressed to Greeks, and mistakes the third as explicit. Four passages are examined: (1) a catalogue of a Greek city’s social classes (433d1–5); (2) a bar against Greek slaves, asserting the continuation of barbarian slavery (469b5–71c3); (3) an assertion that the Best City can exist at any time and any place (499c7–d1); and (4) a passage asserting the injustice of enslavement (615a6–b6).

La République comporte les trois éléments suivants : (1) un argument implicite à l’effet que l’esclavage est injuste, (2) une interdiction pour les Grecs de posséder des esclaves grecs, qui (3) admet cependant la possession d’esclaves barbares. Les commentateurs n’ont pas décelé le premier, ni remarqué que le second est un performatif adressé aux Grecs; ils ont tenu, à tort, le troisième pour explicite. J’examine ici quatre passages : un catalogue des classes sociales dans la cité grecque (433d1-5); l’interdit pesant sur l’esclavage des Grecs accompagné du maintien de l’esclavage des barbares (469b5-71c3); l’affirmation que la cité idéale est possible partout et en tout temps (499c7-d1); et l’affirmation que l’esclavage est injuste (615a6-b6).

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Articles
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Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 219 - 244
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Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2016 

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