Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

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Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
AuthorÉtienne de La Boétie
Original titleDiscours de la servitude volontaire
LanguageMiddle French
GenreEssay
Publication date
1577
Publication placeKingdom of France

The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (

clandestinely
in 1577.

Composition

As it remained unpublished for so long after its composition, the date of preparation of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude is uncertain. According to his closest friend, Michel de Montaigne, it was written when La Boétie was 16-18 years old.[1] Recent studies suggest that La Boétie wrote the Discourse between 1552 and 1553,[2] while he about 22 years old and was studying at university.[3] After La Boétie's death in 1563, Montaigne came into possession of the manuscript, but he refused to publish it.[4]

Content

The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude poses the question of why people submit to authority. La Boétie believed that government was unnecessary, and that the only requirement for it to be abolished was that the people who allowed themselves to be ruled engage in civil disobedience. He asserted that, while liberty was an inherent part of human nature, slavery was not a natural law but was enforced solely through habit. La Boétie proposed that if people lived only by their natural rights, they would be obedient to their own parents and follow their own reason but would not allow themselves to be subordinate to anybody else.[5]

As government still existed, La Boétie concluded that people did not truly desire liberty and instead had voluntarily accepted their own servitude. He then clarified that, as this servitude was voluntary rather than accepted through a social contract, they could also disobey their rulers and remove them whenever they considered it necessary. La Boétie's view was an early articulation of popular sovereignty, in which political power emanated from the people.[5]

La Boétie celebrated liberty as an inherent good and said that, when it was lost, it gave way to evil and any good that remained was "corrupted by servitude". He also condemned tyrants, which he categorised into three types: those elected by the people; those who took power by force; and those he were brought to power by order of succession. Although he held that elected tyrants were the most justifiable, he nevertheless believed that all three types of tyranny were problematic, as they all involved people giving up their freedoms for servitude.[6]

La Boétie posited that people continued to voluntarily accept servitude because they were born and brought up in servitude. He said that, in most cases, tyranny was maintained by the self-interest of people that sought to profit from their own domination, rather than it being maintained through force. To reverse this process, he called for people to engage in civil disobedience and take back the power they had given to their rulers.[7]

Legacy

In 1576, the Discourse entered circulation among exiled

right-wing libertarians such as Murray Rothbard.[8]

Publication history

French original
English translation

See also

References

  1. ^ Rothbard 1975, p. 37n4.
  2. ^ Marshall 2008, p. 109; Rothbard 1975, p. 38n4.
  3. ^ Rothbard 1975, p. 38n4.
  4. ^ Marshall 2008, pp. 109–110.
  5. ^ a b c Marshall 2008, p. 110.
  6. ^ Marshall 2008, pp. 110–111.
  7. ^ Marshall 2008, p. 111.
  8. ^ Marshall 2008, pp. 111–112.

Bibliography
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