Discurso da Servidão Voluntária: relações de força e de liberdade na obra de La Boétie

Abstract

The goal of this project is to reflect on the ambiguities raised by the Discourse of the Voluntary Servitude in its historic journey, from its origin through the appropriations by certain groups, to the different optical readings. As an attempt to understand why the voluntary servitude happens, Etienne de La Boétie rewrites the foundations of power, looking at ancient authors from whom the argument of the balance of power originated. The lack of more convincing answers on the motivation of servitude voluntary, drives the Author to search for them on the relations of freedom since is natural for men to be free and not natural to serve a tyrant. La Boétie s arguments lead to the conclusion that in tyranny complicity, equality and fellowship appear as extremely false. The most effective antidote, vis-à-vis these deviations as a way to regain the forgotten freedom, is the proper exercise of friendship. The relevancy of the Discourse of the Voluntary Servitude for today relies on the fact that it offers a perennial paradigm for analyzing any type of tyrant exercise. The wisdom that allows us to decipher the strategies of despotic power, as well as its true revelation and the friendship that once re-politicized, allows new relationships in the public arena, presenting as loopholes to wrong and common voluntary servitude