Steuart and Rousseau

[Brad DeLong]

>Chris's response regarding James Steuart is on target.  Both Steuart and
>Rousseau were very different in their vision, although both admired Sparta.
>Steuart (1767; 1: 51) taught that slavery was a "violent method (for) making
>men laborous in raising food," he understood that the market, properly
>arranged, could accomplish the same objectives that Spartan slavery promised.
>In the past, he argued "men were ... forced to labour because they were slaves
>to others; men are now forced to labour because they are slaves to their own
>wants" (ibid.; 1: 52).

Someone someday should write a study of how people's attitudes toward 
the future reflect which of the classical republics--Athens, Rome, or 
Sparta--they admire...

Brad DeLong