Terence Ball
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279952
- eISBN:
- 9780191598753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279957.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the ...
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Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the role attributed to them by some modern feminists. A third and heretofore unsuspected thinker—namely his own father, James Mill—proves to be a much more plausible and probable source of the younger Mill's feminist views.Less
Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the role attributed to them by some modern feminists. A third and heretofore unsuspected thinker—namely his own father, James Mill—proves to be a much more plausible and probable source of the younger Mill's feminist views.
Terence Ball
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279952
- eISBN:
- 9780191598753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279957.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter compares and contrasts the schemes for a civil religion advanced by Auguste Comte and James Mill, which contrasts the former's illiberal and priestly views with the latter's liberal and ...
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This chapter compares and contrasts the schemes for a civil religion advanced by Auguste Comte and James Mill, which contrasts the former's illiberal and priestly views with the latter's liberal and low‐church conception of the role of religion in a modern and largely secular society. The purpose of Mill's civil religion is pedagogical: it seeks to impart civically useful knowledge and to instil a sense of civic responsibility and restraint. This stands in stark contrast to Comte's civil religion, which seeks to stifle criticism, manipulate the emotions, and procure assent to an authoritarian and undemocratic system of priestly rule.Less
This chapter compares and contrasts the schemes for a civil religion advanced by Auguste Comte and James Mill, which contrasts the former's illiberal and priestly views with the latter's liberal and low‐church conception of the role of religion in a modern and largely secular society. The purpose of Mill's civil religion is pedagogical: it seeks to impart civically useful knowledge and to instil a sense of civic responsibility and restraint. This stands in stark contrast to Comte's civil religion, which seeks to stifle criticism, manipulate the emotions, and procure assent to an authoritarian and undemocratic system of priestly rule.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Drawing on contemporary critical work on colonialism and the cross-cultural encounter, this book is a study of the emergence of utilitarianism as a new political language in Britain in the late-18th ...
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Drawing on contemporary critical work on colonialism and the cross-cultural encounter, this book is a study of the emergence of utilitarianism as a new political language in Britain in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. It focuses on the relationship between this language and the complexities of British Imperial experience in India at the time. Examining the work of James Mill and Sir William Jones, and also that of the poets Robert Southey and Thomas Moore, the book highlights the role played by aesthetic and linguistic attitudes in the formulation of British views on India, and reveals how closely these attitudes were linked to the definition of cultural identities. To this end, Mill's utilitarian study of India is shown to function both as an attack on the conservative orientalism of the period, and as part of a larger critique of British society itself. In so doing, the book demonstrates how complex British attitudes to India were in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and how this might be explained in the light of domestic and imperial contexts.Less
Drawing on contemporary critical work on colonialism and the cross-cultural encounter, this book is a study of the emergence of utilitarianism as a new political language in Britain in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. It focuses on the relationship between this language and the complexities of British Imperial experience in India at the time. Examining the work of James Mill and Sir William Jones, and also that of the poets Robert Southey and Thomas Moore, the book highlights the role played by aesthetic and linguistic attitudes in the formulation of British views on India, and reveals how closely these attitudes were linked to the definition of cultural identities. To this end, Mill's utilitarian study of India is shown to function both as an attack on the conservative orientalism of the period, and as part of a larger critique of British society itself. In so doing, the book demonstrates how complex British attitudes to India were in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and how this might be explained in the light of domestic and imperial contexts.
Terence Ball
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279952
- eISBN:
- 9780191598753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279957.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
In this chapter, I show how James Mill reworks and recycles the argument of a classic text—viz. Plato's Republic—and uses Plato's theory of justice and just punishment to legitimize Bentham's plans ...
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In this chapter, I show how James Mill reworks and recycles the argument of a classic text—viz. Plato's Republic—and uses Plato's theory of justice and just punishment to legitimize Bentham's plans for penal reform. Pace Michel Foucault, who views Bentham as the thoroughly modern doyen of the `surveillance society’, I argue that much modern political theory has classical roots and that we should therefore be wary of post‐modern genealogists’ claims about discursive continuities between discrete epistemes or systems of thought.Less
In this chapter, I show how James Mill reworks and recycles the argument of a classic text—viz. Plato's Republic—and uses Plato's theory of justice and just punishment to legitimize Bentham's plans for penal reform. Pace Michel Foucault, who views Bentham as the thoroughly modern doyen of the `surveillance society’, I argue that much modern political theory has classical roots and that we should therefore be wary of post‐modern genealogists’ claims about discursive continuities between discrete epistemes or systems of thought.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The History of British India's main fame rests on its transformation of utilitarianism into what one scholar has described as a ‘militant faith’. This chapter explores the role ...
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The History of British India's main fame rests on its transformation of utilitarianism into what one scholar has described as a ‘militant faith’. This chapter explores the role played by British India in James Mill's thinking, a role whose complexity has been neglected by scholars who view the History as simply an attempt to apply a version of utilitarianism to British India. It is important to make clear from the outset that both Jeremy Bentham's and Mill's opposition to colonization was not as relevant to British India as at first it might appear, except in so far as Mill was in agreement with East India Company policy of actively hindering the settlement of non-official Europeans in British India. A distinction between British India and other colonies was implicit in Bentham's and Mill's writings on colonies. The main purpose of Mill's article was to consider whether emigration and colonization were effective means of solving the problems resulting from overpopulation.Less
The History of British India's main fame rests on its transformation of utilitarianism into what one scholar has described as a ‘militant faith’. This chapter explores the role played by British India in James Mill's thinking, a role whose complexity has been neglected by scholars who view the History as simply an attempt to apply a version of utilitarianism to British India. It is important to make clear from the outset that both Jeremy Bentham's and Mill's opposition to colonization was not as relevant to British India as at first it might appear, except in so far as Mill was in agreement with East India Company policy of actively hindering the settlement of non-official Europeans in British India. A distinction between British India and other colonies was implicit in Bentham's and Mill's writings on colonies. The main purpose of Mill's article was to consider whether emigration and colonization were effective means of solving the problems resulting from overpopulation.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Between 1797 and 1818, petitions to British parliament favouring extended or universal male suffrage were rejected either because they were printed or because of the language in which they were ...
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Between 1797 and 1818, petitions to British parliament favouring extended or universal male suffrage were rejected either because they were printed or because of the language in which they were written. Trials for sedition, discussions in parliament, comments in newspapers, and responses to petitions relied on the notion of vulgarity to argue against the concept of extended or universal male suffrage. One of Jeremy Bentham's favourite targets for attack was the legal fictions of common law, whereas James Mill's target in the The History of British India was the fiction of the economic and cultural riches of India. Mill often condemned European travellers in India and East India Company officials for exaggerating India's wealth. But Mill's attack on the fiction of Indian wealth was rooted in a definite economic doctrine. He took a strict economic view of imperialism in India. Mill demonstrated that India was of no economic benefit to Britain, and also pointed out the inconveniences of government at a distance as well as the corrupt patronage involved in governing colonies.Less
Between 1797 and 1818, petitions to British parliament favouring extended or universal male suffrage were rejected either because they were printed or because of the language in which they were written. Trials for sedition, discussions in parliament, comments in newspapers, and responses to petitions relied on the notion of vulgarity to argue against the concept of extended or universal male suffrage. One of Jeremy Bentham's favourite targets for attack was the legal fictions of common law, whereas James Mill's target in the The History of British India was the fiction of the economic and cultural riches of India. Mill often condemned European travellers in India and East India Company officials for exaggerating India's wealth. But Mill's attack on the fiction of Indian wealth was rooted in a definite economic doctrine. He took a strict economic view of imperialism in India. Mill demonstrated that India was of no economic benefit to Britain, and also pointed out the inconveniences of government at a distance as well as the corrupt patronage involved in governing colonies.
Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knöbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150840
- eISBN:
- 9781400844746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150840.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter examines how the progressive optimism nourished by liberal doctrines gradually began to take hold and how sociology as a discipline took a particularly wide variety of institutional ...
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This chapter examines how the progressive optimism nourished by liberal doctrines gradually began to take hold and how sociology as a discipline took a particularly wide variety of institutional forms and featured very different theoretical and research programs. Toward the end of the eighteenth and during the first third of the nineteenth centuries, utilitarians such as Jeremy Bentham and later James and John Stuart Mill were already singing the praises of free trade and its peace-promoting effects. This laid the foundations for at least one strand of liberal thought in the nineteenth century, on which early “sociologists” such as Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer could then build. Despite the hegemonic status of liberal doctrines, other views were always present beneath the surface. This includes Marxism, which in many respects embraced the legacy of liberalism.Less
This chapter examines how the progressive optimism nourished by liberal doctrines gradually began to take hold and how sociology as a discipline took a particularly wide variety of institutional forms and featured very different theoretical and research programs. Toward the end of the eighteenth and during the first third of the nineteenth centuries, utilitarians such as Jeremy Bentham and later James and John Stuart Mill were already singing the praises of free trade and its peace-promoting effects. This laid the foundations for at least one strand of liberal thought in the nineteenth century, on which early “sociologists” such as Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer could then build. Despite the hegemonic status of liberal doctrines, other views were always present beneath the surface. This includes Marxism, which in many respects embraced the legacy of liberalism.
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198075042
- eISBN:
- 9780199080816
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198075042.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter begins by providing a background to the colonial/Orientalist narratives that framed the discourses of ‘talking back’. James Mill’s History of British India and his adverse evaluation of ...
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This chapter begins by providing a background to the colonial/Orientalist narratives that framed the discourses of ‘talking back’. James Mill’s History of British India and his adverse evaluation of Indian civilization are examined in detail. The chapter then moves on to responses of Mills version of Indian history from Bankimchandra Chatterjee, a litterateur, and R.G. Bhandarkar, one of the first professional Indian historians.Less
This chapter begins by providing a background to the colonial/Orientalist narratives that framed the discourses of ‘talking back’. James Mill’s History of British India and his adverse evaluation of Indian civilization are examined in detail. The chapter then moves on to responses of Mills version of Indian history from Bankimchandra Chatterjee, a litterateur, and R.G. Bhandarkar, one of the first professional Indian historians.
William Bain
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199260263
- eISBN:
- 9780191600975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260265.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political ...
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The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political power in territories administered by the East India Company. The chapter has five sections: From Merchant to Sovereign in British India; The Claim to Rule; The Relations of Ruler and Subject; The Purpose of the Office of Government; and Providing Protection, Directing Improvement.Less
The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political power in territories administered by the East India Company. The chapter has five sections: From Merchant to Sovereign in British India; The Claim to Rule; The Relations of Ruler and Subject; The Purpose of the Office of Government; and Providing Protection, Directing Improvement.
Bart Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691154770
- eISBN:
- 9781400884957
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154770.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter examines John Stuart Mill's legacy as an advocate of utilitarianism. Mill championed an open society, critical thinking, human dignity, and women's equality and produced immortal works ...
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This chapter examines John Stuart Mill's legacy as an advocate of utilitarianism. Mill championed an open society, critical thinking, human dignity, and women's equality and produced immortal works such as Utilitarianism, On Liberty, On the Subjection of Women, and the thirty-three volume Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. The chapter first provides an overview of Mill's early life and education before discussing the ways that he was influenced by his father James Mill and Jeremy Bentham. It then considers how Mill, together with his wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, succeeded in framing a vision of a vibrant, individualistic liberalism replete with a healthy public sphere and grounded on the progress of civilization and happiness. It also explores Mill's views on subjects ranging from pleasure and the principle of utility to hedonism, liberty, colonization, poor relief, death penalty, and religion.Less
This chapter examines John Stuart Mill's legacy as an advocate of utilitarianism. Mill championed an open society, critical thinking, human dignity, and women's equality and produced immortal works such as Utilitarianism, On Liberty, On the Subjection of Women, and the thirty-three volume Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. The chapter first provides an overview of Mill's early life and education before discussing the ways that he was influenced by his father James Mill and Jeremy Bentham. It then considers how Mill, together with his wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, succeeded in framing a vision of a vibrant, individualistic liberalism replete with a healthy public sphere and grounded on the progress of civilization and happiness. It also explores Mill's views on subjects ranging from pleasure and the principle of utility to hedonism, liberty, colonization, poor relief, death penalty, and religion.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter defines and considers the four dominant themes to Sir William Jones's work: his study of Sanskrit and his formulation of the family of Indo-European languages; his project for a digest ...
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This chapter defines and considers the four dominant themes to Sir William Jones's work: his study of Sanskrit and his formulation of the family of Indo-European languages; his project for a digest of Indian law; its relation to discussions of land revenue systems; and his formulation of a methodology for the study of Indian history. Jones's legal work is examined in terms of the problems which it posed for Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, whilst his hymns to Hindu deities are examined in the context of his legal work and his attempt to define the cultural identity of a rejuvenated Hinduism. Rather than explaining the ambiguities in his position in terms of his supposed liberal imperialism, it seems more fruitful to see these ambiguities as stemming from a confusion about how to arrive at an understanding of cultures which would both respect their uniqueness, and compare and contrast them to other cultures in a neutral idiom.Less
This chapter defines and considers the four dominant themes to Sir William Jones's work: his study of Sanskrit and his formulation of the family of Indo-European languages; his project for a digest of Indian law; its relation to discussions of land revenue systems; and his formulation of a methodology for the study of Indian history. Jones's legal work is examined in terms of the problems which it posed for Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, whilst his hymns to Hindu deities are examined in the context of his legal work and his attempt to define the cultural identity of a rejuvenated Hinduism. Rather than explaining the ambiguities in his position in terms of his supposed liberal imperialism, it seems more fruitful to see these ambiguities as stemming from a confusion about how to arrive at an understanding of cultures which would both respect their uniqueness, and compare and contrast them to other cultures in a neutral idiom.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This book explores the emergence of utilitarianism as a political language in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, focusing upon James Mill's The History of British India (1817). It ...
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This book explores the emergence of utilitarianism as a political language in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, focusing upon James Mill's The History of British India (1817). It describes the relationship between the emergence of this language, as defined by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, and the complexities of British imperialism in India at the time. Edward Said has argued that the Orient was the creation of a whole apparatus of intellectual practices which were a part of such ventures. In the oriental works of Robert Southey and Thomas Moore studied here, it is clear that the Orient was a creation which played a vital role in constituting their differing religious, political, and aesthetic positions. Furthermore, the intimate and complex relationship between popular and scholarly orientalism in their works can also be interpreted in the light of Said's conception of the orientalist venture. Much of Mill's History of British India was an attack upon Sir William Jones and the body of ideas which Mill believed he had defined.Less
This book explores the emergence of utilitarianism as a political language in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, focusing upon James Mill's The History of British India (1817). It describes the relationship between the emergence of this language, as defined by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, and the complexities of British imperialism in India at the time. Edward Said has argued that the Orient was the creation of a whole apparatus of intellectual practices which were a part of such ventures. In the oriental works of Robert Southey and Thomas Moore studied here, it is clear that the Orient was a creation which played a vital role in constituting their differing religious, political, and aesthetic positions. Furthermore, the intimate and complex relationship between popular and scholarly orientalism in their works can also be interpreted in the light of Said's conception of the orientalist venture. Much of Mill's History of British India was an attack upon Sir William Jones and the body of ideas which Mill believed he had defined.
Javed Majeed
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117865
- eISBN:
- 9780191671098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117865.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This book has argued that the emergence of utilitarianism and the conservative ideology which it attacked in the early 19th century was closely involved with the British imperial experience in India. ...
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This book has argued that the emergence of utilitarianism and the conservative ideology which it attacked in the early 19th century was closely involved with the British imperial experience in India. It has thrown some light on the problem of what constituted consistency between one's political views in Britain and one's political views in British India. It is this, and the whole character of the body of ideas of which it was a part, which distinguishes the liberal imperialism of James Mill from that of such figures as Sir William Jones. Furthermore, an important part of Mill's critique of the revitalized conservatism of his time was an attack on the relationship between notions of the imagination and the creation of an Orient in the work of Jones and his colleagues. This dimension of Mill's The History of British India has been somewhat neglected. In its analysis of texts which can be seen to form part of an orientalism, this book has tended to disagree with some aspects of Edward Said's thesis.Less
This book has argued that the emergence of utilitarianism and the conservative ideology which it attacked in the early 19th century was closely involved with the British imperial experience in India. It has thrown some light on the problem of what constituted consistency between one's political views in Britain and one's political views in British India. It is this, and the whole character of the body of ideas of which it was a part, which distinguishes the liberal imperialism of James Mill from that of such figures as Sir William Jones. Furthermore, an important part of Mill's critique of the revitalized conservatism of his time was an attack on the relationship between notions of the imagination and the creation of an Orient in the work of Jones and his colleagues. This dimension of Mill's The History of British India has been somewhat neglected. In its analysis of texts which can be seen to form part of an orientalism, this book has tended to disagree with some aspects of Edward Said's thesis.
Thomas R. Trautmann
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520205468
- eISBN:
- 9780520917927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520205468.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter focuses on the emergence of British Indophobia or British lack of enthusiasm for India. It explains that the Indophobia that became the norm in the early nineteenth century was ...
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This chapter focuses on the emergence of British Indophobia or British lack of enthusiasm for India. It explains that the Indophobia that became the norm in the early nineteenth century was deliberately constructed by Evangelicalism and Utilitarianism, and that its chief architects were Charles Grant and James Mill. The texts that launched Indophobia were Mills's History of British India and Grant's “Observations on the state of society among the Asiatic subjects of Great Britain, particularly with respect to morals; and the means of improving it.” The chapter also discusses John Shore's biography of Sir William Jones, who nurtured Indomania in the eighteenth century.Less
This chapter focuses on the emergence of British Indophobia or British lack of enthusiasm for India. It explains that the Indophobia that became the norm in the early nineteenth century was deliberately constructed by Evangelicalism and Utilitarianism, and that its chief architects were Charles Grant and James Mill. The texts that launched Indophobia were Mills's History of British India and Grant's “Observations on the state of society among the Asiatic subjects of Great Britain, particularly with respect to morals; and the means of improving it.” The chapter also discusses John Shore's biography of Sir William Jones, who nurtured Indomania in the eighteenth century.
Timothy Larsen
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- July 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198753155
- eISBN:
- 9780191814815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198753155.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter explores the life and thought of John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill. It seeks to unravel his journey from pursuing the calling of an ordained Christian minister in the Church of ...
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This chapter explores the life and thought of John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill. It seeks to unravel his journey from pursuing the calling of an ordained Christian minister in the Church of Scotland to parting ways with the Christian faith altogether. It will also seek to understand James Mill’s mature critique of religion, as well as that of his friend the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the author of several works critical of traditional Christianity. The unhappy marriage of John Stuart Mill’s parents is presented as a vital background for understanding his future choices and convictions. The Christian identity of his mother and siblings are also presented.Less
This chapter explores the life and thought of John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill. It seeks to unravel his journey from pursuing the calling of an ordained Christian minister in the Church of Scotland to parting ways with the Christian faith altogether. It will also seek to understand James Mill’s mature critique of religion, as well as that of his friend the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the author of several works critical of traditional Christianity. The unhappy marriage of John Stuart Mill’s parents is presented as a vital background for understanding his future choices and convictions. The Christian identity of his mother and siblings are also presented.
J. Barton Scott
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226368672
- eISBN:
- 9780226368702
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226368702.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
In his History of British India (1817), James Mill described Hindu priests as exercising a “singular species of despotism” over their followers. Here, it is argued that this claim and others like it ...
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In his History of British India (1817), James Mill described Hindu priests as exercising a “singular species of despotism” over their followers. Here, it is argued that this claim and others like it played an important role in demarcating priestly or pastoral power as distinct from and complementary to the power of the state. By tracing a series of concentric circles around Mill’s book, the chapter explicates Mill’s implicit theory of the priest as spiritual despot. It draws particular attention to his interest in the history of the Protestant Reformation by exploring his intellectual debt to French writer Charles Villers, as well as noting the resonance between Mill History and the later florescence of popular writing about the “Indian Luther.” The chapter concludes with a consideration of liberalism as asceticism, arguing that the liberal norm of subjective autonomy operates under false pretences. As a whole, the chapter suggests the complex intersection of Protestant and liberal discourses on selfhood in early nineteenth-century missionary and philosophical writing.Less
In his History of British India (1817), James Mill described Hindu priests as exercising a “singular species of despotism” over their followers. Here, it is argued that this claim and others like it played an important role in demarcating priestly or pastoral power as distinct from and complementary to the power of the state. By tracing a series of concentric circles around Mill’s book, the chapter explicates Mill’s implicit theory of the priest as spiritual despot. It draws particular attention to his interest in the history of the Protestant Reformation by exploring his intellectual debt to French writer Charles Villers, as well as noting the resonance between Mill History and the later florescence of popular writing about the “Indian Luther.” The chapter concludes with a consideration of liberalism as asceticism, arguing that the liberal norm of subjective autonomy operates under false pretences. As a whole, the chapter suggests the complex intersection of Protestant and liberal discourses on selfhood in early nineteenth-century missionary and philosophical writing.
Lisa C. Robertson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526123503
- eISBN:
- 9781526141972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526123503.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter evaluates the writing Harkness produced during her time living in the countries that are now India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Placing Harkness’s work in a nineteenth-century tradition of ...
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This chapter evaluates the writing Harkness produced during her time living in the countries that are now India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Placing Harkness’s work in a nineteenth-century tradition of British historiographical writing about India that begins with James Mill’s History of British India (1817), the chapter argues that her work during this period consciously eschews conventional historical methodology and offers an important counter-narrative to colonial history. It suggests that in her attention to the ways that social movements and political institutions shape people’s daily lives, which is set within a broad foundation of personal knowledge, Harkness’s writing engages more ardently with the conventions of cultural history than it does with those of travel writing.Less
This chapter evaluates the writing Harkness produced during her time living in the countries that are now India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Placing Harkness’s work in a nineteenth-century tradition of British historiographical writing about India that begins with James Mill’s History of British India (1817), the chapter argues that her work during this period consciously eschews conventional historical methodology and offers an important counter-narrative to colonial history. It suggests that in her attention to the ways that social movements and political institutions shape people’s daily lives, which is set within a broad foundation of personal knowledge, Harkness’s writing engages more ardently with the conventions of cultural history than it does with those of travel writing.
Frank M. Turner
Richard A. Lofthouse (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300207293
- eISBN:
- 9780300212914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300207293.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of James Mill, a major political radical of early nineteenth-century British politics and a pioneer of Philosophic Radicalism which was, unlike many other ...
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This chapter begins with a brief discussion of James Mill, a major political radical of early nineteenth-century British politics and a pioneer of Philosophic Radicalism which was, unlike many other forms of British radicalism, formally informed by a more or less coherent set of ideas, including the philosophy of Bentham, the psychology of David Hartley, the economics of David Ricardo, and the population theory of Thomas Malthus. However, it was in the third generation that Philosophic Radicalism may be said to have gained entry into English public life. This generation included James's son John Stuart Mill. The chapter goes on to describe J. S. Mill's education and depression, and the clash between his ideas and those of fellow liberal Tocqueville.Less
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of James Mill, a major political radical of early nineteenth-century British politics and a pioneer of Philosophic Radicalism which was, unlike many other forms of British radicalism, formally informed by a more or less coherent set of ideas, including the philosophy of Bentham, the psychology of David Hartley, the economics of David Ricardo, and the population theory of Thomas Malthus. However, it was in the third generation that Philosophic Radicalism may be said to have gained entry into English public life. This generation included James's son John Stuart Mill. The chapter goes on to describe J. S. Mill's education and depression, and the clash between his ideas and those of fellow liberal Tocqueville.
John Regan
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199687084
- eISBN:
- 9780191766992
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199687084.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter considers the extent to which James Mill’s History of India (1817) dismisses imaginative licence in historical writing by adapting eighteenth-century philosophic models of history to a ...
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This chapter considers the extent to which James Mill’s History of India (1817) dismisses imaginative licence in historical writing by adapting eighteenth-century philosophic models of history to a newly militant, pragmatic utilitarianism in which history is ‘put to work’. Mill indicts an Indian society that is resistant to European taxonomies of historical progress because its historical, civic, scientific, and legal texts are in verse. Delivering a withering report on the verboseness of Hindu culture, Mill enshrines concision and exactness at the heart of his imagined, corrective verse-vision. Yet little of this concision is borne out in European and British verse in the period. The text’s trenchant excoriations of Indian verse histories therefore operate dialectically, revealing ideals which are not present in Mill’s own text, and also seem at variance with the melodrama of Romantic ‘slashing criticism’ and the hyper-annotative tendencies of verse in his native Britain.Less
This chapter considers the extent to which James Mill’s History of India (1817) dismisses imaginative licence in historical writing by adapting eighteenth-century philosophic models of history to a newly militant, pragmatic utilitarianism in which history is ‘put to work’. Mill indicts an Indian society that is resistant to European taxonomies of historical progress because its historical, civic, scientific, and legal texts are in verse. Delivering a withering report on the verboseness of Hindu culture, Mill enshrines concision and exactness at the heart of his imagined, corrective verse-vision. Yet little of this concision is borne out in European and British verse in the period. The text’s trenchant excoriations of Indian verse histories therefore operate dialectically, revealing ideals which are not present in Mill’s own text, and also seem at variance with the melodrama of Romantic ‘slashing criticism’ and the hyper-annotative tendencies of verse in his native Britain.
David O. Brink
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199672141
- eISBN:
- 9780191751257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672141.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter introduces and critiques the psychological and moral assumptions of the Philosophical Radicals who influenced Mill, focusing on Bentham's contributions. Bentham's treatment of ...
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This chapter introduces and critiques the psychological and moral assumptions of the Philosophical Radicals who influenced Mill, focusing on Bentham's contributions. Bentham's treatment of psychological egoism, hedonism, the tension between duty and interest, and the justification of utilitarianism are reconstructed and assessed.Less
This chapter introduces and critiques the psychological and moral assumptions of the Philosophical Radicals who influenced Mill, focusing on Bentham's contributions. Bentham's treatment of psychological egoism, hedonism, the tension between duty and interest, and the justification of utilitarianism are reconstructed and assessed.
