Aristotle on Natural Slavery: An Analysis Using the Marxist Concept of Ideology

Nabolsy, Zeyad El

doi:10.1521/siso.2019.83.2.244

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The concept of ideology does not make any direct reference to intentions 34 . One can define an ideological claim in the following terms: “a claim (or account) is to be regarded as ideological if and only if it is so evidently false that the only way in which we can explain why it is held is to appeal to its function in upholding the interests of the dominant group or class in the society in question” (El Nabolsy, 2019b, p. 245). There are some limitations to this conception of ideology.…”

Section: The Utility Of the Concept Of Internal Critique For The Studmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using the Concepts of Hermeneutical Injustice and Ideology to Explain the Stability of Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom

Nabolsy¹

2020

J Historical Sociology

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This paper argues that the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom (c.2055-1650 BC) can in part be explained by referring to the phenomenon of hermeneutical injustice, i.e., the manner in which imbalances in socioeconomic power are causally correlated with imbalances in the conceptual scheme through which people attempt to interpret their social reality and assert their interests in light of their interpretations. The court literature of the Middle Kingdom is analyzed using the concepts of hermeneutical injustice and ideology. It is argued that while it is true that there was room for maneuver and for internal critique, the efficacy of internal critique was hindered by the structure of the intellectual discourse of Middle Kingdom Egypt. This intellectual discourse was suitable for the interpretation of social reality in a way that allowed the elites to assert their interests, but it was not suitable for the interpretation of social reality in a way that accorded with the interests of the exploited peasantry. 1 | INTRODUCTION One of the factors that can contribute to explaining the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom is the manner in which the conceptual tools that were available for the interpretation of social reality in ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom were structurally biased in a way that accorded with the interests of the ruling elite. While the focus of this paper is on the ideational factors which can contribute to explaining the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom, one should not deny that there are other factors that can be invoked to explain this relative stability. Geographical factors such as the "caging effect" that the Nile basin had on the population (Manning, 2013), and the relative security afforded by the deserts in the east and the west of the Nile basin (Hill, Jones, & Morales, 2013, p. 16

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Section: The Utility Of the Concept Of Internal Critique For The Studmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using the Concepts of Hermeneutical Injustice and Ideology to Explain the Stability of Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom

Nabolsy¹

2020

J Historical Sociology

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“…19 Cf. Kamtekar (2016), El Nabolsy (2019), andRosivach (1999: 142-148). 20 Kamtekar (2002: 3) "admixture".…”

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Division and Proto-Racialism in the Statesman

Proios¹

2022

misReading Plato

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Section 1: Introduction In Plato's Statesman, the Eleatic Stranger applies a specialized method of inquiry-the "method of collection and division", or "method of division"-in order to discover the nature of statecraft. This paper articulates some consequences of the fact that the method is both a tool for identifying natural kinds-that is, a tool for carving the world by its joints (Phaedrus 265b-d)and social kinds-that is, the kinds depending on human beings for their existence and explanation. (This notion of "social kind" is drawn from Haslanger (2012a), which is meant to be intuitive, general, and compatible with acknowledging that there may not be boundaries between natural and social kinds as they are traditionally conceived.) The Stranger uses the method to identify the natural structure of social kinds in political society. This is significant, because it connects Plato to contemporary work seeking to articulate how blurred lines between nature and society can be the basis for pernicious social and political aims. I am guided by Haslanger's (2012b: 157) idea that a principle of feminist metaphysics is the question of how oppressive and exploitative social and political projects can claim to draw authority from the way the world is "by nature". 1 One of my goals will be to illuminate the extent to which the method of division 1 See Mills (1997) on "naturalizing" fictions about human origins used to justify racial systems.Conversely, Spencer (2014: 1036, cf. 2019: n.10) writes of his biological racial realism: "if individuals wish to make claims about one race being superior to another in some respect, they 2 allows us to identify Plato as an early historical forerunner of racialism, the construction of an ideology according to which humanity divides into races differentiated by heritable physiological, cultural, and intellectual traits, as a way of vindicating oppressive and exploitative social systems. 2 This is similar in spirit to contemporary work on Aristotle's idea of a "slave by nature" (Politics I.2-7). 3 My argument will attempt to balance two competing strands. On the one hand, Plato often thinks that aspects of society require fundamental re-thinking, reform, or rejection. On the other hand, his alternatives can be deeply worrying. 4 I argue that the Stranger's collections and divisions in the Statesman reflect each of these strands by constituting a revisionary naturalizing project. 5 I defend an interpretation of the Stranger's claim, much discussed in the literature, that the division of humankind into Greek and barbarian is unnatural (Politicus 262c-263a). I argue that, in the Stranger's view, this division reflects subjective illusion and prejudice, rather than the fundamental, and teleological, structure of human social organization, which concerns how will have to look elsewhere for that evidence."

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Standpoint epistemology, internal critique, and the characterization of Equiano as an Enlightenment thinker

el Nabolsy

2024

Atlantic Studies

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This article shows that Olaudah Equiano's struggles to escape from the condition of enslavement allowed him to attain a privileged epistemic position in relation to certain domains of knowledge. Equiano utilized this privileged epistemic vantage point to launch an internal critique of some strands of Enlightenment philosophy. In the process of launching this internal critique, Equiano also undermined a claim to ownership that was implicitly made by prominent defenders of both slavery and theories of racial superiority in relation to the normative principles which constituted the core of the Enlightenment as an intellectual movement. This article shows that to think of Enlightenment discourse in terms of the trope of the "master's tools" is to misunderstand what Equiano brought about by way of successful internal critique in his Interesting Narrative.

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Aristotle on Natural Slavery: An Analysis Using the Marxist Concept of Ideology

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

Using the Concepts of Hermeneutical Injustice and Ideology to Explain the Stability of Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom

Using the Concepts of Hermeneutical Injustice and Ideology to Explain the Stability of Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom

Division and Proto-Racialism in the Statesman

Standpoint epistemology, internal critique, and the characterization of Equiano as an Enlightenment thinker

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