Capitalism and Slavery

Author: Eric Williams

Eric Williams's Capitalism & Slavery became the foundation for many future studies of imperialism and economic development. Binding an economic view of history with strong moral argument, Williams's study of the role of slavery in financing the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION REFUTED TRADITIONAL IDEAS OF ECONOMIC AND MORAL PROGRESS AND FIRMLY ESTABLISHED THE CENTRALITY OF THE African slave trade in European economic development. He also showed that mature industrial capitalism in turn helped destroy the slave system.

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Slavery helped finance the Industrial Revolution in England. Plantation owners, shipbuilders, and merchants connected with the slave trade accumulated vast fortunes that established banks and heavy industry in Europe and expanded the reach of capitalism worldwide.

Eric Williams advanced these powerful ideas in "Capitalism and Slavery," published in 1944. Years ahead of its time, his profound critique became the foundation for studies of imperialism and economic development. Binding an economic view of history with strong moral argument, Williams's study of the role of slavery in financing the Industrial Revolution refuted traditional ideas of economic and moral progress and firmly established the centrality of the African slave trade in European economic development. He also showed that mature industrial capitalism in turn helped destroy the slave system. Establishing the exploitation of commercial capitalism and its link to racial attitudes, Williams employed a historicist vision that set the tone for future studies. In a new introduction, Colin Palmer assesses the lasting impact of Williams's groundbreaking work and analyzes the heated scholarly debates it generated when it first appeared.

About the Author

The late Eric Williams was prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1961 until his death in 1981. Prior to entering politics, he was professor of political and social science at Howard University.

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Ne a Cordoue en 1126, mort en 1198, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), juge, medecin et philosophe andalou, a laisse une uvre considerable: outre des traites polemiques et de nombreux essais, il a consacre a Platon, et surtout a Aristote, des commentaires appeles a exercer une grande influence dans les domaines de la logique, de la metaphysique, de la noetique. Ce volume est le premier d'une serie presentant, en traduction francaise, l'ensemble de son activite exegetique sur la somme logique qu'est l'Organon aristotelicien. On trouvera, accompagnees de l'annotation essentielle, les uvres d'Averroes sur le traite De l'interpretation, ou Aristote etablit la doctrine de la proposition simple et de ses elements constitutifs: un commentaire moyen et deux essais polemiques contre al-Farabi et Avicenne. La traduction est precedee d'une introduction qui replace cet ouvrage dans la riche tradition, arabe, grecque et latine de la logique aristotelicienne.