In this paper I will be discussing the
master-slave relationship. I will give you an understanding as to how this
union exists. Also I will brief you on how without this relationship a city
would not exist. This paper will not only define the master-slave relationship
but give quotations and examples that will help you the reader to fully
understand this concept.
In the master-slave relationship, with this union, the master can not exist
without the slave. The slave is there to assist the master with the maintaining
of the master’s wants and needs. In the classroom setting the teacher is the
slave because he or she has the knowledge that is needed by the students. The
students would be the master because the teacher is upholding the desires and
wishes of the students by teaching them the knowledge they have. According to
Aristotle The Politics, Book I Chapter 2, “The naturally ruling and ruled, on
the account of preservation. For that which can see with the thought is
naturally ruling and naturally mastering elements while that which can do with
the body is naturally ruled and slave.” This is one of the common relationships
that are known in the household. The household is the partnership established
by nature for the needs of daily life. A group of households makes up a
village, and a group of villages makes up a city.
Now that we have seen that the city is made up of households, I would like to
discuss that management of the household. What makes up the household relates
to the people in the household. A complete household consist of slaves and
freemen; who are the master and slave, the husband and wife, and the parent and
child. The leadership of the master over the slave is different from nature,
and the difference between the slave and freeman only exists by law. It is
considered just, but the slave and freeman don’t exists by nature and being an
impediment with nature is consequently unjust.
What is property? According to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
property is defined as a quality or trait belonging and especially peculiar to
an individual or thing. Property is also in conjunction with the household, and
the ability of managing property is also a part of managing the household; for
no man can live well, or indeed live at all, unless he is supplied with the
essential items needed to survive. When surviving, workers must have sufficient
tools or instruments to accomplish their work. Instruments come in types such
as living and non-living. A possession is an instrument for preserving life. So
in the household where the master-slave relationship is considered the slave is
a living possession of the master. To take another look at this, instruments
normally are instruments of production, while a possession is an instrument of
action. Action and production are dissimilar in manner, but both require
instruments. The instrument in which they provide work for must also differ in
manner. Aristotle states in the Politics, “Life is action, not production; the
slave is therefore a subordinate in matters concerning action.” With possession
the master is only the master of the slave; he does not belong to him whereas
the slave is not only the slave if his master, but wholly belongs to him. So by
nature if you are not your own, but you are another’s man, you are by nature a
slave and possession.
Now we must investigate whether such a person exists by nature or not, and whether
or not it beneficial for anyone to be a slave. First it is necessary to examine
the proper relationship between body and soul as similar to different types of
rule. The soul rules the body as a master rules a slave and the intellect rule
the desires like a king rules a city. It is natural and useful for the soul to
rule the body. It is better for animals that they be ruled by man, and the
relationship of male to female is a relationship of superior to inferior. A
natural slave is one who does not have the full use of reason, because such a
person is as different from other men as the body is from the soul. The natural
slave perceives reason, but does not have it. It is difficult to tell who a
natural slave is, because the exquisiteness of the soul is very challenging to
see, but for those who are natural slaves, slavery is both useful and just. Yet
those who believe that slavery is unjust are correct in a sense, because, in
addition to natural slaves, there are also slaves according to law. Legal
slavery, usually the result of military conquest, is unjust because not all the
conquered people are slaves by nature. If someone who is not a natural slave,
but is enslaved by force, the situation is detrimental to both to the master
and the slave.
On the other hand there is a slave and slavery by law as well as by nature. The
law is where whatever is taken in war belongs to the victors, simply if man has
the power to have a war he is superior in strength and someone else should be
his slave. On this side it shows that that everyone is not marked as slaves by
nature but are marked as slaves based up their social classes or by rank. So
the men that are under the high class or the highest rank of the society by
right can have slaves because they are at the highest point. Thus, the men who
are under the lower class or lower rank are designated as the slaves of the
high class men. If today’s society were like this, it means that that if you
were to look at the Untied States in this manner George W. Bush would be the head
master because he has the highest rank, and his slaves would everyone else
under him. It would follow with the governors of each state to be the head
masters of the state, and their slaves would be the mayor of each city in the
governor’s state and so on.
Many people thought that mastery and political rule were the same, but they are
different. Mastery and political rule are not the same thing, because political
rule is over those who are free and equal. With this rule the master is not
called master because he has skill that is needed. To be in love is to also be
in a master-slave relationship. With this form you are trying to embody in the
person what you think you need. So the person that needs something is the
master and the one who encompasses it is the slave. Mastery rule is acquiring
slaves but using them for their advantage. With slavery, the masters acquired
slaves, and the slaves were used for the monetary gain of the masters.
So in conclusion, the master-slave relationship not one only exist in the
household, but it exist in society and everyday life. Without this
relationship, people would be unable to determine who they are as a person and
what their purpose is in life. This relationship helps define many
interactions, weather it is romantic, educational, or a job function. I never
really thought to much about this relationship and just related it to slavery,
but I have come to know that it is a significant aspect in the way life’s
relationships are viewed.