BEGONE ARISTOTLE! BARBARIANS IN THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF LAS CASAS' DEFENSE OF THE INDIANS

In 1550-1551, Juan Gilles Sepfilveda and Bartolome Las Casas debated about the status of the Indians conquered and oppressed by the Spanish. Sepiilveda argued the Amerindians were barbarians and not real humans. To this Las Casas responded with an analysis of the notion of `barbarians.' Barbarian' may refer to those who commit crimes, to people of another language, to people without reason and government. The latter are rare, if not inexistent. Finally, non-Christians may be called barbarians. I will show in this essay that Las Casas is establishing a definition of humans that challenges traditional, essentialist, definitions; thus he is creating an anthropology based on human activity: a human being is one who acts and behaves humanly and may not be killed for motives of religion or custom.