Regarding the end of slavery: I think you make good points and they’ve made me update towards thinking that the importance of materialistic Morris-style models is slightly less and cultural models slightly more.
I’d be very interested to hear what were the anti-slavery arguments used by the first English abolitionists and the medieval Catholic Church (religion? equality? natural rights? utilitarian?).
Which, evidently, doesn’t prevent the usual narrative from being valid in other places, that is, countries in which slavery was still well accepted finding themselves forced, first militarily, then technologically, and finally economically, to adapt or perish.
I think there’s also another way for the materialistic and idealistic accounts to both be true in different places: Morris’ argument is specifically about slavery existing when wage incentives are weak, and perhaps this holds in places like ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, but had stopped holding in proto-industrial places like 16th-18th century western Europe. However I’m not aware of what specific factor would drive this.
One piece of evidence on whether economics or culture is more important would be comparing how many cases there are where slavery existed/ended in places without cultural contact but with similar economic conditions and institutions, to how many cases there are of slavery existing/ending in places with cultural contact but different economic conditions/institutions.
Regarding the end of slavery: I think you make good points and they’ve made me update towards thinking that the importance of materialistic Morris-style models is slightly less and cultural models slightly more.
I’d be very interested to hear what were the anti-slavery arguments used by the first English abolitionists and the medieval Catholic Church (religion? equality? natural rights? utilitarian?).
I think there’s also another way for the materialistic and idealistic accounts to both be true in different places: Morris’ argument is specifically about slavery existing when wage incentives are weak, and perhaps this holds in places like ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, but had stopped holding in proto-industrial places like 16th-18th century western Europe. However I’m not aware of what specific factor would drive this.
One piece of evidence on whether economics or culture is more important would be comparing how many cases there are where slavery existed/ended in places without cultural contact but with similar economic conditions and institutions, to how many cases there are of slavery existing/ending in places with cultural contact but different economic conditions/institutions.