Marquis de Concordet
The Evils of Slavery
Jamie Joyce
- “Although I am not the same color as you, I have always regarded you as my brothers.”
- Admits to the tolerance of other’s being unrealistic
- The selling and buying of other men are the true crimes – “worse than theft”
- Robs the men who are being subjected to slavery of the most important things in life: time, freedom, strength, “everything that nature has given to him to maintain his life and his needs.”
- Freeing a slave should be considered a good thing instead of a crime
- Reprimands the philosophes for being tolerant of slavery and therefore encouraging others to partake
Progress of the Human Mind
- Argues that “nature has set no term to the perfection of human faculties; that the perfectibility of man is truly indefinite; and that the progress of this perfectibility, from now onwards independent of any power that might wish to halt it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has cast us.”
- We are what we make of ourselves – the sky is the limit and almost anything is attainable
- Even though man has his setbacks (i.e. corruption, prejudice, etc.), ultimately the truth that nature has set for him will be the victor
- Finally during the enlightenment we are discovering these truths
- People are becoming much more aware of the flaws of man – now they are seeking to correct them
- We’ll know what to fix by looking at the past – seek to improve upon essentially everything
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