Reading Questions
W 24 Nov
De Las Casas,
Apologetica Historia
; De Las Casas,
Thirty Very Juridical Propositions
; De Sepulveda,
Democrates Alter
; Vitoria,
De Indis
Reread Aristotle,
Politics
, I.4-7;
Aquinas ST I 96.3-4 and II-II 10.8
(pp.38 61)]
Think about Vitoria's use of Aristotle; is his interpretation of Aristotle's views on natural slavery convincing?
Vitoria is generally considered a "Thomist"--i.e., a thinker in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas. Why is this so?
Do Las Casas and Sepulveda share any common ground or assumptions? Given the terms of the debate, who has the better arguments?
Whose argument "in favor" of the inhabitants of the New World is stronger: Las Casas's or Vitoria's.
What is the relationship between conversion and conquest?
Are these discussions about "race," or something else? What is it that makes the inhabitants of the New World different?
What would Machiavelli have said about the conquest of the New World?