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Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries explores philosophical ideas, theories, and arguments that are central to early modern discussions of slavery. Jorati explores a topic that is widely neglected by historians of philosophy: debates about the morality of slavery in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century America and Europe.
Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries explores philosophical ideas, theories, and arguments that are central to early modern discussions of slavery. It is a companion volume to Jorati's
Slavery and Race: Philosophy Debates in the Eighteenth Century (OUP 2023).
List of contents
- Series editors' foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Sixteenth-century debates about slavery and the Spanish conquest
- 1.1 Francisco Tenamaztle
- 1.2 Francisco de Vitoria
- 1.3 Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
- 1.4 Bartolomé de las Casas
- 1.5 José de Acosta
- 2. Slavery, natural equality, and natural law in seventeenth-century Europe
- 2.1 Francisco Suárez
- 2.2 Hugo Grotius
- 2.3 Samuel Pufendorf
- 2.4 Gabrielle Suchon
- 3. Slavery and social contract theory in seventeenth-century Europe
- 3.1 Thomas Hobbes
- 3.2 Algernon Sidney
- 3.3 John Locke
- 4. Natural inequality and natural slavery in seventeenth-century Europe
- 4.1 Francis Bacon
- 4.2 Yves de Paris
- 4.3 Pierre Gassendi
- 4.4 Johannes von Felden
- 4.5 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 5. Critiques of transatlantic slavery in seventeenth-century Europe and America
- 5.1 Alonso de Sandoval
- 5.2 Quaker antislavery writings
- 5.3 Richard Baxter
- 5.4 Morgan Godwyn
- 5.5 Epifanio de Moirans
- 5.6 Thomas Tryon
- 5.7 Aphra Behn
- 5.8 Samuel Sewall
- 5.9 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Julia Jorati is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She specializes in early modern philosophy with a particular focus on metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and ethics. In addition to numerous articles about Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and several other early modern philosophers, she has authored the books Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Eighteenth Century (2024) and Leibniz on Causation and Agency (2017). She is also the editor of Powers: A History (2021).
Summary
Philosophers from Europe and colonial America engaged in heated debates about the morality of slavery in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and these debates provide insights into the roots of modern racism. Julia Jorati explores the philosophical ideas, theories, and arguments that are central to early modern discussions of slavery. Some texts explicitly examine the morality of the transatlantic slave trade or of the enslavement of indigenous people in the Americas; others discuss slavery in predominantly theoretical ways. Based on these texts, Jorati shows that race and slavery came to be closely associated in this period. This association was often made through an endorsement of the theory of natural slavery: Black and indigenous people were commonly viewed as natural slaves, or naturally destined for slavery. The theory that some people are natural slaves also features prominently in theoretical discussions of slavery, and many philosophers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries embraced versions of it.
Jorati surveys a wide range of historical material, from the views of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, to many less widely studied philosophers like Gabrielle Suchon, Morgan Godwyn, and Epifanio de Moirans. Jorati's volume, along with its companion Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Eighteenth Century, illustrates the significance and philosophical sophistication of early modern debates about slavery, and serves as a valuable resource for scholars, instructors, and students who are curious about this widely neglected topic.
