The power of slaves

Conjecture about a silence of Spinoza

Authors

  • Diego Tatián Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.10

Keywords:

Philosophy, racism, freedom, slavery, marranism

Abstract

In a letter of July 20, 1664 Spinoza tells his friend Peter Balling a dream with “a certain black and leprous Brazilian”. Maybe that’s the one and only mention into Spinoza’s work that refers to the New World -where Holland had colonies. From that dream, the present text inquiries about the coexistence of the modern philosophies of freedom with the real slavery of thousands of human beings in America, and in particular about the silence of Spinoza regarding the slave trade in the American colonies.

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Published

2018-03-22

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 28 (2018)

Section

Monográfico: Actores, escenarios y bastidores de la política en Spinoza

License

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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How to Cite

Tatián, D. (2018). The power of slaves: Conjecture about a silence of Spinoza. Co-herencia, 15(28), 225-244. https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.10