RE: Exodus 21
November 6, 2018 at 11:39 am
(This post was last modified: November 6, 2018 at 11:47 am by Angrboda.)
(November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am)Drich Wrote: The problem? we do not have a working model of a society not based on a slave class. Meaning society for the jews or anyone else would fail without slavery. (if you do not think this is the case then name one society that has been established without a slave's as it foundation.) Slavery is critical to every society.
Even if true, idoesn't follow that because we have no working model of a slaveless society that such a society would be a failure. That's just a non-sequitur. At minimum, you need to give some reason why such a society would fail, not simply show that one has not existed. That would be like saying because we haven't had an example of a true communist state that a successful one cannot exist. Or that because we haven't seen heaven, that heaven can't exist. It's essentially an argument from ignorance and thus fails. You need to explain not just how slavery is important or useful to a society, but how it is necessary. I don't think you've done so.
Additionally, you need to define what slavery is for any argument to have legs. I recently participated in a discussion as to whether slavery was over or not and the meaning of the term varied dramatically. There is the example of chattel slavery on one end, and the ideas of being slaves to materialism or slaves to sin or some other thing on the other. The closer you hew toward the latter, the more it becomes difficult to disentangle society from it, but then it also renders your argument something of an equivocation and rather moot. The more you hew toward the former, the more your argument misrepresents reality and is therefore simply wrong. Without an actual definition of slavery, you can talk until the cows come home, likely equivocating left and right, without accomplishing a damn thing.
As an afterthought, I don't see that you've discussed why it would not still be wrong even if we grant you everything you argue. A necessary evil is still an evil, and "everybody does it" isn't a rational justification for anything.
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