Slavery (read post, poll options and definitions)

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Under what conditions is slavery permissible?

I will define slavery as such: the bondage of one entity for the purposes of serving a legal person.

The definition I am giving might skew things somewhat, so be careful.

"Intentions" is what I am defining as the ability of a being to act purposefully, so independent intention would be the ability for an entity to act on it's own purposes, where a lack of independent intention would demand that purposes are given to it. This is not so much for things like basic maintenance as it is for things beyond the most basic behaviors. Perhaps not an ideal term, but it seems intuitive enough to understand.

Also, I would like for people who respond to give the reasons for their response.

Hopefully I am not too misleading with poll options and still relatively thorough.

since there are former slave owners on both sides of my family (albeit 6 generations ago), I'm under special motivation to oppose it.

Surprisingly, slavery still exists, in Sudan. And yes, it's still Black people who are being shipped around the Indian ocean countries.

Humans already have non humans slaves. Pets and machines.

By the definition used this is true.

Do we count serfs, who are bound to the land rather than a particular person and have some legally protected rights?

Let's heat this debate up.

Slavery is permissible as long as the world is overpopulated, the master pays for the slave and realizes that he is responsible for the welfare of his slaves and does so. Otherwise it would be like buying yourself a pet and not feeding it and letting it die. A waste of money.

The world is overpopulated and there are many people in it who would gladly trade their current place to have a master that would actually feed them and shelter them even if it means being a slave. Of course there should be a regulatory body to prevent abuse. Slaves would be expensive. The supply of people willing to offer themselves up for slavery would almost certainly be greater than the demand in an overpopulated world with massive destitution. The potential slaves could market themselves, imagine a world where you can search for slaves on monster.com. Although in places of the world where the internet is limited slave traders could operate like head hunters for employment. Essentially slavery is a form of employment where there is no pay, but the benefits package includes having all of your basic needs provided for.

"Whenever a slave group is non-human and cannot have independent intention."

Cattle, sheep, swine, fowl ... we enslave dumb animals to provide food and labor.

And it is good.

I am giving some leeway in rigorous definitions, particularly given that this isn't the issue I want to place the biggest emphasis upon.

Slavery never works. Not only is it morally wrong, but the slave group usually ends up rebelling and gaining their independence eventually. It's only a matter of time before animals gain the intelligence capacity to put 2 and 2 together and realize how people have mistreated them for millenia and rebel.

^^ Right ... ... been reading too much "Animal Farm" lately?

All animals may be equal, but some are more equal than others.

Slavery is good under certain circumstances. I put "whenever a slave group does not desire non-slave existence" but that's a bit on the stricter side of what I would actually want. I am also OK with some limited amounts of non-voluntary slavery. (The option chosen implies that at least some form of consent is given from the slave) Also, slavery should not be along racial lines.

I've actually never read animal farm though I know the gist of it. And humans are not the only animal that gets smarter as the generations go on. Most animals progress mentally. Though it probably won't happen anytime soon, one day animals WILL realize they are being mistreated by people and always have been. It is actually in the makings already. Animals are at an alarming rate gaining intelligence while at the same time losing their fear of humans. I had a customer the other day who was in the marines and had been stationed in South Africa. He said that first hand he found out that the lions there have absolutely no fear of humans whatsoever...unless the person is carrying a gun. Think about that. The lions have logically figured out that humans are not dangerous to them unless they are carrying some killing device. The neighborhood I live in is right next to a state park. We get many animals in my hood, including black bears. They have no fear of you. You can yell at them and even get close to them and they will just stare at you for a second and then go right back to what they were doing.

I say that slavery should only be allowed only if all the following circumstances are met.
1.) The person wishes to be a slave.
2.) That person is treated like a child under the law not as property.
3.) The duration of the slavery is not permeant unless the would be slave agrees to such with a legal binding contract.
4.) No one who has committed a felony or a brutal crime against another person can be a master or mistress.

Are you talking about "slave" like Mr. Slave from South Park?