Abstract
In the debate over Spanish treatment of the natives of the New World, both sides regularly invoked Aristotle on natural slaves. This paper argues that the interpretation of the Spanish Dominican Domingo de Soto displays a greater understanding of Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition of justice than that of Juan Gines de Sepúlveda, the Spanish Humanist. The paper goes on to argue that it is the humanist tradition itself that disposes Sepúlveda to misconstrue Aristotle and the tradition of political justice.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1999
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 1999, Georgetown University Press. This article first appeared in Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics: 19 (1999), 193-212.
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Recommended Citation
Davis, G. Scott. "Humanist Ethics and Political Justice: Soto, Sepúlveda, and the "Affair of the Indies"." Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics 19 (1999): 193-212.