The Slavish Cast of Mind

What, then, is the slavish cast of mind? The slave's mind is consumed with obedience to authority for its own sole sake. The difference between a slave and a free thinking mind consists in the line between submitting to authority for its own sake and submitting to authority for acceptable reasons, that is to say, reasons that are acceptable to you. So far so good. But the problem consists in that reasons can be made out to be acceptable, appearing 'acceptable', if for no other reason than that trustworthy institutions--institutions which we rely upon-- have given a reason which one takes will be acceptable grounds for the authority of the act. Such faith never guarantees that the mind and for that person are not actually enslaved in this dynamic. One thinks of any propaganda campaign in a fascist regime, like Franco or Mussolini, and sees how integrally the vital center (the free market) can evolve into an acceptance of an unjust and therefore unfree social order. Freedom of the mind means both having an open and sharp mind and an awareness of the problem of authority and a robust grasp of its manifold complexity and, perhaps more importantly,one which has the willingness to reject the grounds of authority given to it as a principle of action. Knowing the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate authority is of value, indeed is essential to men free both in person and in thought, and even to the slave whose very existence is made contingent upon this distinction. The slavish cast of mind is to be thought of in opposition to the free mind. It is a mindset that readily accepts authority without either the willingness to challenge or the mind to understand and so reject the authority of an illegitate source of power.