ARISTOTLE AS REALIST CRITIC OF SLAVERY

Aristotle's famous (or infamous) discussion of slavery occurs in Book I of the Politics. Long considered to be his defence of slavery, these passages, I argue, show instead that Aristotle opened it up to the possibility of criticism. Admittedly, Aristotle's criticism of slavery is oblique and, in line with his philosophical method, elaborately deferential to local opinion, history and political context. I want to show, however, that this contextually sensitive form of social criticism stems from Aristotle's realist view of the relationship of philosophy to politics. To use Bernard Williams' distinction between the political moralist (with which Aristotle is often associated) and the political realist, I think that Aristotle clearly saw the injustice of slavery, but was also aware of the historical and political restraints that made it an unavoidable evil. Thus, far from being a defender of the status quo, Aristotle should be counted as a realist social critic. At the heart of his approach to social criticism is a realism that values the socially and historically embedded nature of our political existence to which critical thought should give considered attention.