ABSTRACT
The Aristotelian justification of slavery has caused great embarrassment among those who, in our time, are admirers of Aristotle and abolitionists. The concept of function is central in Aristotle's discussion of slavery. Usually, the people who have analyzed Aristotle's discussion of slavery have emphasized his psychic inferiority theory of the slave. Aristotle did not identify the opponents of slavery, but refers to them in opposition to those who distinguished between king, statesman, and owner of slaves only on grounds of the number of those subject to their power. The opponents indicated by Aristotle do not distinguish between types of slavery, but focus on the master-slave dichotomy. Aristotle also introduces an ethnographic consideration based on climatic considerations: The peoples of cold countries and those of Europe are full of spirit, but deficient in skill and intelligence; and this is why they continue to remain completely free, but attain no political development and show no capacity for governing others.
