Description

This volume provides a collection of recent essays that address a wide variety of moral concerns regarding slavery as an institutionalized social practice. Over half of the essays present novel interpretations of Aristotle and of Enlightenment views. In some cases explicit comparisons are drawn between the arguments given by former slaves and certain political theories that may have influenced them. By considering the slave's critical appropriation of the natural rights doctrine, the ambiguous implications of various notions of consent and liberty are examined. The authors assume that, although slavery is undoubtedly an evil social practice, its moral assessment stands in need of a more nuanced treatment. They address the question of what is wrong with slavery by critically examining, and in some cases endorsing, certain principles derived from communitarianism, paternalism, utilitarianism, and jurisprudence.

This volume provides a collection of recent essays by today's most innovative social thinkers. Anita Allen, Bernard Boxhill, Joshua Cohen, R.M. Hare, Bill Lawson, Tommy Lott, Howard McGary, Julius Moravesik, Laurence Thomas, William Uzgalis, Julie Ward, Bernard Williams, and Cynthia Wilett address a wide variety of moral concerns regarding slavery as an institutionalized social practice.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 Necessary Identities
Chapter 4 Radical Implications of Locke's Moral Theory: The Views of Frederick Douglass
Chapter 5 ". . . The Same Tyrannical Principle": Locke's Legacy on Slavery
Chapter 6 "The Master's Tools": Abolitionist Arguments of Equiano and Cugoano
Chapter 7 Early Enlightenment Conceptions of the Rights of Slaves
Chapter 8 Locke and the Legal Obligations of Black Americans
Chapter 9 The Master-Slave Dialectic: Hegel vs. Douglass
Chapter 10 Slavery and the Ties that Do Not Bind
Chapter 11 Paternalism and Slavery
Chapter 12 What Is Wrong with Slavery
Chapter 13 Slavery and Surrogacy
Chapter 14 American Slavery and the Holocaust: Their Ideologies Compared
Chapter 15 The Arc of the Moral Universe
Chapter 16 Bibliography
Chapter 17 Index
Chapter 18 Contributors

Product details

Published Jan 14 1998
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9780847687787
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Dimensions 228 x 149 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Tommy L. Lott

Contributor

Anita Allen

Contributor

Bernard Boxill

Contributor

Joshua Cohen

Contributor

R M. Hare

Contributor

Bill Lawson

Contributor

Tommy Lott

Contributor

Howard McGary

Contributor

Laurence Thomas

Contributor

William Uzgalis

Contributor

Julie Ward

Contributor

Cynthia Willett

Related Titles

Environment: Staging