Gieren wrote:
The Value of a Human...the value of a slave
(Edit: As difficult as this may be to believe, I've tried to keep this vaguely succinct while maintaining a decent amount of clarity, given that my mind's a bit of everywhere though... feel free to ask for specific clarification/justification/logical explanation.)
I'll begin by saying that I'm likely to be offensive. C'est la vie. I intend to foray into the nebulous realms of philosophy. People get angry about philosophy. Such is life. I only ask that this remain a debate. Not an argument, not a flamewar, a debate.
Now, to our feature presentation.
As background. I make a very clear distinction between two types of owned submissives, servants and slaves. My definitions are not orthodox, so I will clarify them here.
Slaves are the truly dependent. The ideal state for a submissive, some would say. They are the trained, the tractable, they have been conditioned to such a degree that they truly are an extension of their Master's will. A slave considers situations with the approach of 'What Would Master Do?' A slave is the ideal of IE. In brief, a slave is its Master.
Servants differ from slaves in only one regard, that they are independent souls. A servant may not be able to extricate itself from a relationship. A servant may be incapable of disobedience in more than isolated incidents, but a servant is capable of displeasure, of doubt... A servant is capable of defiance, and a broad reach of emotions long subverted in a slave.
Thus, a quandary.
I have come to the conclusion that to truly enslave an individual, as opposed to mere enpetment, (my own word, used with my own property) would have devastating effects on their personality. It would impose severe limitations on their potential as an individual and pervert (classical definition) any previous capacity for creativity with their new focus. Creating a slave requires the complete control of and immense modification of the functional personality, and I have decided that the procedure is not one I would reserve for my dearest, my loves and my pets, but for my fondest enemies. I have concluded that successful enslavement, the subjugation of the psyche, qualifies as nothing short of murder, and while I've little compulsions against the idea, I feel it is a course best reserved for those I would as soon kill.
The question: Is such an enslavement possible?
I believe so. I have seen several people, even in this vein of society, disagree on the grounds that there is an immutable personality, one that can be suppressed, but not destroyed... Regardless, I believe such a course is entirely plausible, and have yet to hear convincing evidence to the contrary. The capacity for the psyche to be salvaged is not an issue, as we are assuming that the Dominant in question wishes to keep the submissive in a state of enslavement.
The next question: If possible, would such an enslavement limit the potential of a slave?
Again, I believe so. I find it difficult to fathom that any creature who's attention is so heavily focused upon, who's positive stimuli are so heavily reliant on a single item (in this case, Dominant) not to reorder its entire existence around such a powerful individual.
And the last question, the one that spurred this long-winded mess...: Given the above, what is the intrinsic value of a slave, as opposed to what it was before? Some people make better slaves than others, and some people make better people than others, so at what point does it become acceptable to destroy an individual, and all the creative and productive potential once harboured, and replace it with the potential of a slave?
To answer this question, one must have a firm grasp of one's philosophy, I have a specific answer, one I'll share when I'm not possessed of a strong desire to relent to carpal tunnel, but I'd like to pose the idea to the community.
In brief, I feel that the role of a slave is a poor allocation of resources, a waste of perfectly good potential, and the already dead... those I would gladly destroy for the sake of my own twisted morals, are the only creatures suitable for such an endeavour.
Evening to you all, and if this has been discussed before, I missed it. Apologies.
--Gieren.
P.S. I doubt anyone I'd've pissed off will read this far... *but* I do feel a need to clarify that the role of a slave, by my definition, is not an insignificant one. I do, however, find a slave at times detestable and infinitely less beautiful, in most cases, than the corresponding 'human' (that is to say, fully independent psyche) from which the slave was produced.
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