Brunswick on Nostr: ...

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Purpose of This Addendum

This addendum to "Toward A Theory of Value“ extends the Volitional Theory of Value by examining its limit case: slavery. Any theory that grounds value in authorship and volition must account for systems in which labor is performed under coercion or where will is denied outright. Slavery provides a decisive test. The conclusion is stark: slave labor can produce utility and exchange value, but it produces counterfeit value in the ontological and moral sense.

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I. Slavery as the Negation of Volition

Slavery is not merely labor under harsh conditions. It is the systematic annihilation of recognized authorship.

Under slavery: - Energy is expended
- Time is consumed
- Goods are produced

But: - Choice is overridden
- Alternatives are eliminated
- Moral responsibility is displaced

The slave does not author the work. The will is not merely constrained; it is subordinated as a matter of principle.

This distinction is decisive. In the Volitional Theory of Value, value arises not from effort alone, but from freely exercised will under irreversible cost. Slavery severs that link.

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II. Coerced Will vs. Denied Will

Not all constrained labor is slavery. A critical distinction must be maintained.

A. Coerced Will (Diminished Authorship)

Examples include: - Prison labor
- Debt peonage
- Survival labor under extreme pressure

Here, the agent still chooses among constrained alternatives. Authorship is damaged but not erased. The resulting value is morally ambiguous, not counterfeit.

B. Denied Will (Slavery Proper)

In slavery: - There is no right of refusal
- No exit
- No ownership of one’s body
- No recognized moral agency

Here, authorship is not merely constrained but nullified. The product cannot truthfully testify to the worker’s will because the worker was not permitted to exercise one.

This is slavery in the strict sense.

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III. Why Slave Labor Cannot Author Value

Slave labor fails the authorship criterion in two directions:

1. The slave does not author the output
   The work does not represent a chosen commitment. It represents survival under domination.

2. The master does not author the output
   The master substitutes violence for sacrifice and command for effort. He claims authorship without bearing the cost that authorship requires.

The result is production without a legitimate author.

This is why slave labor is not merely unjust, but ontologically corrupt.

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IV. Counterfeit Value Defined

Counterfeit value is not the absence of usefulness or exchangeability. It is the presence of falsified origin.

Slave-produced goods may have: - Use value
- Exchange value
- Market price

But they lack: - Legitimate authorship
- Moral provenance
- Truthful testimony of will

They circulate as value while lying about how they came into being.

This is why the moral intuition surrounding slave-produced goods is not about efficiency or price, but about taint.

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V. Slavery vs. Mechanization

It is essential to distinguish slavery from machine labor.

A machine: - Expends energy
- Has no will
- Denies no agency

Machine output is instrumentally valuable and morally neutral.

Slavery is worse than mechanization because it: - Destroys an existing will
- Appropriates its output
- Pretends the result is legitimate

Slavery is not the use of tools; it is the conversion of persons into tools.

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VI. The Economic Consequences of Counterfeit Value

Economies built on slave labor exhibit recurring pathologies:

• Escalating violence and surveillance
  
• Rigid hierarchy and fear-based coordination
  
• Moral hollowing of institutions
  
• Eventual collapse or conquest
  

These are not incidental. They follow from the absence of legitimate authorship. Systems that circulate counterfeit value must compensate with force.

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VII. Money, Slavery, and Inherited Falsification

When money is backed by slave labor, the defect propagates.

Such money: - Functions in exchange
- Coordinates production
- Enables trade

But it carries falsified authorship through the system. The moral corruption is not localized; it diffuses.

This explains why no purely economic remedy resolves the legacy of slavery. The problem is categorical, not quantitative.

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VIII. Theological Boundary

From a Christian perspective, slavery is not merely exploitation but usurpation.

• The human will bears the image of God
  
• Absolute command over the will belongs to God alone
  
• Slavery attempts to appropriate what no human may own
  

This is why slavery constitutes a direct violation of the imago Dei. It does not merely misuse labor; it denies personhood.

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IX. Refinement of the Volitional Theory of Value

This analysis sharpens the theory:

Energy expenditure is necessary for value.
Volitional authorship is necessary for legitimacy.
Where will is denied, value becomes counterfeit.

Value without authorship may circulate, but it cannot endure without rot.

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X. Conclusion

Slave labor exposes the core truth of value more clearly than any abstract model.

• Energy alone is insufficient
  
• Production alone is insufficient
  
• Scarcity alone is insufficient
  

Where the will is silenced, value loses its truth.

Slave labor does not merely produce unjust outcomes.
It produces counterfeit value—objects that function as goods while bearing false witness about their origin.

Any serious theory of value must name this plainly, or it has not yet confronted reality.