Probabilismo y esclavitud negra

Roberto Hofmeister Pich

doi:10.25185/8.2

Abstract

Little is known yet about the normative discussions on black slavery that were had by scholastic thinkers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. In this article, we connect the writings of Diego de Avendaño S.J. (1594–1688) to the conceptual history of the slavery of black people. We highlight in particular the connection that Avendaño promotes between the legitimacy of the slave trade, slave ownership and probabilism. This new perspective is acknowledged and criticized by Francisco José de Jaca O.F.M. Cap. (c. 1645–1689) and Epifanio de Moirans O.F.M. Cap. (1644–1689). The main purpose of the present essay is to describe and interpret the reactions of these two authors to Avendaño’s discussion. Their anti-slavery works provide views on slavery in the ius gentium, freedom as a good and a right, and the insufficiency of moral probabilism as a doctrine when applied to the problem of the slavery of Africans.

Highlights

A investigação exaustiva das análises normativas sobre a escravidão dos negros, feitas por escolásticos dos séculos 16-18, é um projeto recentemente iniciado e sem prazo para terminar[1]
Little is known yet about the normative discussions on black slavery that were had by scholastic thinkers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century
We connect the writings of Diego de Avendaño S.J. (1594–1688) to the conceptual history of the slavery of black people