Thanks for this, and indeed there are more contradictions with the claim of being on “the right side of history”, as it assumes the sort of progress narrative (an arc to the just) that many who the phrase would in other circumstances argue against.
Great food for thought - I'd not previously heard of 'remoteness principles'. Yet, isn't that what society does now? We judge past actions based on contemporary principles, even when those past actions were not considered immoral or wrong at the time.
Yes. So we are constantly judging people in the past: but how can we know how we will be judged? I don’t think I can even imagine it. I hope that on balance I have helped more people than I’ve harmed…
Someone needs to tell me how debt peonage or indentured service differs in any way from slavery. In fact, if today someone has to work to pay off debts, that person ALSO has to provide food and shelter for him or herself while so doing, whereas under Roman (and other) Law, the person in thrall to another - a "slave" - expected food and board while working out his servitude.
'The past is a different country.......: one of my favourite quotes from a well-loved book. He is writing about the difficulty of understanding the motivations and historic forces separating only one or two generations from another. Putting ourselves in the shoes of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire is indeed an almost impossible task, but tantalizing just the same. A very distant mirror. Thanks, Katy.
Thanks for this, and indeed there are more contradictions with the claim of being on “the right side of history”, as it assumes the sort of progress narrative (an arc to the just) that many who the phrase would in other circumstances argue against.
Great food for thought - I'd not previously heard of 'remoteness principles'. Yet, isn't that what society does now? We judge past actions based on contemporary principles, even when those past actions were not considered immoral or wrong at the time.
Yes. So we are constantly judging people in the past: but how can we know how we will be judged? I don’t think I can even imagine it. I hope that on balance I have helped more people than I’ve harmed…
Someone needs to tell me how debt peonage or indentured service differs in any way from slavery. In fact, if today someone has to work to pay off debts, that person ALSO has to provide food and shelter for him or herself while so doing, whereas under Roman (and other) Law, the person in thrall to another - a "slave" - expected food and board while working out his servitude.
'The past is a different country.......: one of my favourite quotes from a well-loved book. He is writing about the difficulty of understanding the motivations and historic forces separating only one or two generations from another. Putting ourselves in the shoes of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire is indeed an almost impossible task, but tantalizing just the same. A very distant mirror. Thanks, Katy.