Abstract

The interpretation of human nature attributed by Aristotle to the natural slave remains a contentious issue. I challenge two prevalent interpretative approaches that fail to represent Aristotle’s view accurately. The first interpretation suggests that natural slaves share the same human nature as free men, with their deficiencies arising from their actions and habituation. The second view considers the natural slave as a degenerate subhuman with an innate and irremediable rational deformity. I reject both interpretations and propose instead that the natural slave is seen as a legitimate human being with a rational deficiency. Furthermore, I argue that although slaves are considered human beings, their rational deficiency should be understood as more severe than some scholars suggest. This is particularly true for those who equate non-Greeks with natural slaves and evaluate the cognitive capabilities of slaves based on the intellectual achievements of non-Greeks.