La Boétie's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude: A Cry for Liberty?

Extract

[...] C ~ THE PARADOXICAL DISCOURSE, THE SERIO LUDERE14 One can wonder if La Boétie is not having fun exploring a paradox to show his virtuosity in reasoning. It is a matter of taking on an intellectual challenge rather than calling for political action or exposing a political theory. He hardly talks about the situation of his time either. The oxymoronic phrase 'voluntary servitude' therefore coincides two opposing elements. La Boétie does not innovate: since the Docte ignorance of Nicolas of Cusa (1440) scholars like to coincide two opposing elements. [...]

[...] C ~ INDIGNOUS SITUATIONS Agrippa d'Aubigné, in The Mutual Duty of Kings and Subjects summarizes the degrading spectacle that La Boétie gives to see in these terms: "the gain, flattery, stupidity or extreme poverty [have] [ . ] made them merchants and prostitutes of what nature has given them. It is corruption that is denounced. « [?] suffer the pillage, the debauchery, the cruelties [ . ] of a single man, and most often the most cowardly and effeminate of the nation [ . [...]

[...] CONCLUSION It would be exaggerated to speak of a cry uttered by La Boétie to defend freedom against voluntary servitude. The orality of the text is the same as that found in other speeches, which are not averse to using an emphatic tone, taking the listener as a witness by presenting them with facts to be condemned. In reality, La Boétie's writing is scholarly in more than one way: it is full of ancient references and the young magistrate addresses his predecessor to show off his virtuosity while sharing his ambition to moderate the absolute monarchy. [...]

[...] Greek and Roman literatures therefore allow us to see the stakes of life in society, especially historians show the way to avoid and the way to follow: « Those are the ones who, having a clear understanding and a keen spirit, do not content themselves like the common people with looking at what is in front of their feet, but instead look ahead and behind, and do not forget past things in order to judge those of the time to come, and to measure the present ones. (§ 27) Antiquity therefore contributes to the defense of freedom, but not in a 'criative' way. It may be that Lucian of Samosata (II century) that he went to look for the oxymoron 'voluntary servitude'7 » or at Seneca8. [...]

[...] He writes this at a time when the people are rebelling, precisely. The consequence is not freedom, but death or injuries from repression. Furthermore, it is difficult to believe that a magistrate who serves the king would exhort the people to disobey. Like Montaigne, he is a conservative: 'he had another maxim supremely ingrained in his soul, to obey and submit very religiously to the laws under which he was born This is therefore a purely rhetorical formula. The digressions raise doubts about the seriousness of the proposal. [...]