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Selected Works

Freedom

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

Slavery And Freedom In Theory And Practice, David Watkins Apr 2016

Slavery And Freedom In Theory And Practice, David Watkins

David Watkins

Slavery has long stood as a mirror image to the conception of a free person in republican theory. This essay contends that slavery deserves this central status in a theory of freedom, but a more thorough examination of slavery in theory and in practice will reveal additional insights about freedom previously unacknowledged by republicans. Slavery combines imperium (state domination) and dominium (private domination) in a way that both destroys freedom today and diminishes opportunities to achieve freedom tomorrow. Dominium and imperium working together are a greater affront to freedom than either working alone. However, an examination of slavery in practice, …

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Development As Freedom: Introduction And Perspective, Srijit Mishra Jan 2012

Development As Freedom: Introduction And Perspective, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

This presentation discusses the introduction and perspective chapter from Amarty Sen's Development as Freedom. This is meant for the course on 'Contemporary Issues in Human Development and Policy'.

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What Does Prehistoric Anthropology Have To Do With Modern Political Philosophy? Evidence Of Five False Claims, Karl Widerquist May 2010

What Does Prehistoric Anthropology Have To Do With Modern Political Philosophy? Evidence Of Five False Claims, Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist

This paper is a very early and very preliminary report of some of the findings from the research project, "Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy." The project will lead to at least one book, perhaps two. The basic argument of the project is that influential, modern political theories often rely on dubious claims about prehistory. It examines the political philosophy literature to show how these claims are used as essential premises in influential arguments. It then examines evidence from anthropology, archaeology, and history to show that these claims are dubious. This paper previews many of the findings from the book.

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In Defence Of Exploitation, Justin Schwartz Jan 1995

In Defence Of Exploitation, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

The concept of exploitation is thought to be central to Marx's Critique of capitalism. John Roemer, an analytical (then-) Marxist economist now at Yale, attacked this idea in a series of papers and books in the 1970s-1990s, arguing that Marxists should be concerned with inequality rather than exploitation -- with distribution rather than production, precisely the opposite of what Marx urged in The Critique of the Gotha Progam.

This paper expounds and criticizes Roemer's objections and his alternative inequality based theory of exploitation, while accepting some of his criticisms. It may be viewed as a companion paper to my What's …

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