This is the argument of personal autonomy. It is easily rebutted by the following scenario: A young mother with a difficult infant - colicky, screaming, impossible to console. A young mother living by herself in an isolated environment with no other people to draw upon for assistance. Is it ethical for her to abandon that child?
I was reading about slavery as it existed in Africa before the Portuguese started it as an industry in the 15th century - enslavement was a punishment for criminal behavior, and for those captured in war between tribes. It was seen as just and natural.
I suspect you are younger than 40 yo?
There was a story just today, here, that I commented on about government schools providing condoms and instructions on how to use them for 5th graders.
That's not good. Pretty conclusive evidence that both of those are wrong.
I would hope that you agree that slavery is not just, and if the Bible were divinely inspired then God would have taken issue with the idea of slavery regardless of whether it was acceptable during the time.
Not true, we have a really good understanding of evolution. But in the off chance you are correct then you should go win a Nobel Prize for disproving a well established scientific fact.
Evolutionary biologists. People who study these kind of things for a living.
I do not care what kind of slavery, all slavery is wrong. It is never okay to own another person as property.
I would say no. She could give it up for adoption though.
Would I be offended, no, I would ask for it back though.
The alternative was execution
In many forms of slavery, even in the new world, especially in the North, the slave was often a valued member of the family, entrusted with goods and wealth and responsibility. There are accounts of slaves in British North America (Canada) being sent into the Pays d'en Haut to trade with the indigenous peoples for years at a time.
This is a cool thought experiment, thank you. My issue here that this situation seems extremely unlikely if not impossible. If this were to somehow occur I think the bigger issue here is survival. This is probably a very unsatisfying answer but I guess I would need more context to give a better response.
The only thing you can do with criminals are execution or enslavement? But I think the most important thing to focus on is that how they were treated is not the biggest issue. The fact that they were property is unacceptable. No circumstance can justify that for me, no matter how well they were treated (in most cases slaves were not valued).
