Freedom, Slavery, and Death

This chapter examines the literature on the relation between freedom, slavery, and death. It analyses the relevant works of several authors, including Seneca, Plato, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Toni Morrison. It suggests that all these writers witnessed and validated the absoluteness of the choice between freedom and death, and did so by basing that choice on the threat, either explicit or concealed, of slavery.