“All the peoples of the world are human beings.”
Bartolomé de las Casas · Spanish scholasticism
justicesocietyethics
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Bartolomé de las Casas
1484–1566 · Spanish scholasticism · Renaissance
Bartolomé de las Casas went to the Caribbean as a settler and held enslaved Indigenous labourers before a change of heart in 1514. He became a Dominican friar and spent fifty years denouncing Spanish conquest. In the Valladolid debate of 1550–51 he argued against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda that Indigenous Americans were rational people with their own legitimate societies, not 'natural slaves' in Aristotle's sense, and could not be conquered to be converted.
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His Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies exposed atrocities across Europe. Early on he suggested importing enslaved Africans instead, which he later bitterly regretted and condemned.
One translated card.
Start here
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, tr. Griffin, with Pagden's introduction.
The case and its context.
Quotations
Key ideas
Common humanity
All peoples are rational and equal in nature.
Against natural slavery
Aristotle's category does not fit whole nations.
Peaceful persuasion
Faith may only be offered by reason and example, never by force.
Major works
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552)
Tr. Nigel Griffin.
Apologética historia sumaria (c. 1555–59)
Defence of Indigenous civilisations.
Influences
- Thomas Aquinas
- Francisco de Vitoria
Influenced
None listed in this library.
Common misreadings
- Not anti-religious: his case was religious and legal.
- His figures for deaths are often disputed; the abuses he describes are well documented.
Famous lines Bartolomé de las Casas never said
None of the lines this library files for Bartolomé de las Casas is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, tr. Griffin, with Pagden's introduction. The case and its context.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Bartolomé de las Casas that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “All the peoples of the world are human beings.” (Apologética historia sumaria, ch. 48, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Bartolomé de las Casas is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Common humanity: All peoples are rational and equal in nature.