Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Nonfiction
Author:	ÉTIENNE DE LA BOÉTIE,

Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
The Discours sur la servitude volontaire
of
ÉTIENNE DE LA BOÉTIE,
1548
Rendered into English by
HARRY KURZ

[Published under the title
ANTI-DICTATOR]

New York: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS: 1942.

DEDICATION

COPYRIGHT 1942
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK
First printing, January, 1942
Second printing, June, 1942
[Copyright not renewed, so now in public domain.]

Foreign agents:
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Humphrey Milford, Amen House, London, E.G. 4, England,
AND B. I. Building, Nicol Road, Bombay, India

http://www.constitution.org/la_boetie/serv_vol.htm

The Central question is; why do people consent to their own enslavement?
To overcome tyranny and oppression all one must do is withdraw consent and support.
The most important insights gathered from the text are humans are free by nature.
It is also true "in the beginning men submit under constraint and by force; but those who come later obey willingly and without regret". Custom then becomes the first reason for voluntary servitude.
I've found the text heroic in nature and insightful especially for a Black man here in the wilderness of north america