Aristotle: Politics (Book 1)

What came first the chicken or the egg? For Aristotle, I think the question is what came first the family or the state? The family is the building block of the political body. Villages are composed of a group of these. However, Aristotle argues "the state is by nature clearly prior to the family and to the individual, since the whole is of necessity prior to the part..."

"Where then there is such a difference as that between soul and body, or between men and animals (as in the case of those whose business is to use their body, and who can do nothing better), the lower sort are by nature slaves, and it is better for them as for all inferiors that they should be under the rule of a master. For he who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in rational principle enough to apprehend, but not to have, such a principle, is a slave by nature."

What does this mean for us? Aristotle believed that slavery was fine, that children and wives were subject to their husbands. Yet, the conditions for being a slave seems to have two conditions: be rational enough to understand what being a slave means but not rational enough to have their own slaves.

After college, I thought about how most generations have had slavery under different names. We have had "Slavery", "Indentured Servitude", company town workers, and now slaves to debt. After college I had $60k in student loans; and will be paying a pretty penny in interest. Now I'm tied to this debt which can prevent me from "freedom" in a sense. Am I subject to it because I both acknowledge that it exists and wasn't smart enough to finance my education in a different way or get a cheaper education.