A British history of India: philosophical commitments in James Mill's the history of British India
Date
2000
Authors
Ferguson, Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis about James Mill's philosophical commitments in The History of British India gives a close analysis of the main themes in that work. It first traces the sources of his thought in the conjectural history of Dugald Stewart, the four-stages theory of Adam Ferguson and John Millar, and the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham. The influence of classical political economy developed by Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, and David Ricardo is also examined. The analysis of Mill's text here focuses particularly on the relative importance of conjectural history and Utilitarianism in The History of British India, an issue that has animated much of the scholarship on this work in the last fifty years. This thesis argues that conjectural history plays a greater role in The History of British India than has been realized by scholars who have focused on the Utilitarian component. Mill's resultant Eurocentrism is also addressed.