LAS CASAS AND OTHER THINGS

Here are some questions about the reading from Las Casas:

  1. What is Aristotle's theory of natural slavery?
  2. What are the different kinds of barbarians which Las Casas' lists?
  3. Are there meanings of 'civilized' which correspomnd to these kinds of barbarians?
  4. What is Las Casas' argument to show that the Aristotelian theory of natural slavery does not apply to the native peoples of the Americas?
  5. Reading the account which Las Casas gives of Spanish attrocities in the new world, think about what the interaction between the Spaniards and the native peoples would have been if the Spaniards had believed in the "prime directive" of Star Trek and the Enterprise?