Lack Of Autonomy In Slavery

Self-ownership, or autonomy is the idea that every individual has ownership over themselves and their labor. This idea is central today but this has not always been the case. Slavery is one famous example of a lack of autonomy. Slaves had no control over themselves or their labor and they were considered property and were owned by a master. When it came to buying and selling slaves a slaves worth was often evaluated by their talents and abilities. A very large, muscular slave would likely be far more useful than a small scrawny slave and therefore be worth a much higher price. To a slave this makes no difference; they do not care how much they are worth because they have no autonomy, but to the owner of the slave this means a great deal. Should the slave become free and gain autonomy, however, then these talents and abilities that govern his worth would become very important to him. This is the idea in question today. We no longer have the institution of slavery and everyone is autonomous yet some say that this creates an imbalance within society. Those like the large muscular slave in the previous example are very lucky as they have high-value abilities and talents. However, if someone like this exists then the inverse must also exist: someone with very low-value talents and abilities. The proposed solution to this would make the talents and abilities

This vision looks at justice as being supreme and something that trumps all other values. The whole reason for the system of collective ownership is to provide justice to the individual in the face of nature; to deliver justice over the “natural lottery” even if it results in a collapse of society. The prime benefit of collective ownership system is that it corrects the wrongs of nature against individuals. It also proves that justice can prevail over even the randomness of nature