Thursday, February 19, 2009

More on slavery and utilitarianism

It could well be that, looking at it over time (when there were no machines to be our slaves) it could be argued that slavery resulted in an overall positive balance of pleasure over pain. The game changed with the development of industrialization, when we could switch to machines as a source of physical energy.

A general rejection of slavery might have to be based on something else than utility.

1 comment:

Lippard said...

Like rule utilitarianism?

Or a Rawlsian theory of justice?