Slavery: Physical, Mental, Spiritual: An Examination of Three Forms of Slavery and the Requirements for Human Freedom

Abstract

In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato uses slavery as a lens to understand what freedom requires of the individual. In a similar vein, this thesis examines the duality of freedom and its counterpart slavery. I use slavery as a lens to deepen our understanding of the requirements for human freedom. This thesis defends Plato’s Allegory by arguing that physical and mental freedom are necessary for human freedom. These freedoms are necessary because they fulfill the precondition for human freedom: they ensure that the individual has the capacity to act. However, this thesis also challenges Plato’s Allegory by arguing that it is incomplete. Plato’s Allegory presumes that mental freedom is the height of human freedom and perfectibility. Plato believes that the individual can perfect his reason and virtue to obtain “the absolute good.” He assumes that human reason is sufficient for attaining the idea of the good. But, Plato fails to recognize the reality of human fallibility and sinfulness as a result of the Fall of Man. Consequently, mental freedom is a freedom with human limits. I endeavor to extend Plato’s Allegory of the Cave so that it includes a path from spiritual slavery to spiritual freedom, which, I argue, is the highest form of freedom. By spiritual freedom, I specifically refer to the idea of Christian freedom – a freedom which is acquired by becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Because Plato preceded Christianity, I have taken it upon myself to modify his Allegory in light of spiritual truth. I have divided this thesis into three subsequent parts, with each part examining a form of human slavery with its corresponding human freedom. Each freedom is examined in succeeding order of preeminence, with spiritual freedom examined last since it is, arguably, the highest form of freedom. In Part One, I make a case for why slavery – in both its physical and non-physical forms – is unnatural and inhumane. Part One lays the groundwork for the arguments I make in Part Two and Part Three of my thesis. Part Two and Three mirror each other in their construction. In both I address when, why, and how the reader should attain mental freedom and spiritual freedom. In Part Two, however, I defend Plato’s theory of mental freedom and derive practical requirements for mental freedom from Plato and John Stuart Mill’s highly theoretical understanding of mental freedom. In Part Three, I argue that Plato’s Cave is incomplete because it does not provide a pathway to spiritual freedom. I make a defense for why spiritual freedom is the highest form of human freedom and provide the reader with the practical requirements for spiritual freedom.