Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II)
Current understanding of Mill as a founding father of liberalism is a Cold War creation. Discarding this conception opens the way to a general reassessment of his thought: who was the historical Mill? He did not define himself as liberal and there is no simple template. Most obviously he is a plural...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor and Francis
2023
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| _version_ | 1824458850697216000 |
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| author | Ghosh, P |
| author_facet | Ghosh, P |
| author_sort | Ghosh, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Current understanding of Mill as a founding father of liberalism is a Cold War creation. Discarding this conception opens the way to a general reassessment of his thought: who was the historical Mill? He did not define himself as liberal and there is no simple template. Most obviously he is a pluralist, defined by a plural heritage received through his father. This framework permitted great creativity in political and social theory, but it was diffuse. The one clear unifying theme is a unique conception of a hierarchy of intellect founded on the inexorable accumulation of positive knowledge. The one important exception to this is political economy. What stands out overall is his individuality, where Mill embodies his own ideal. So apart from political economy, where he could be identified in more conventional terms, his nineteenth-century legacy was personal and incalculably diffusive rather than doctrinaire. This left it ripe for twentieth-century re-invention. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:10:23Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:f194dab4-ab2d-47c4-8bee-0c8afe7d9e5c |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:32:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f194dab4-ab2d-47c4-8bee-0c8afe7d9e5c2025-01-06T14:17:14ZMill before Liberalism (parts I and II)Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f194dab4-ab2d-47c4-8bee-0c8afe7d9e5cEnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor and Francis2023Ghosh, PCurrent understanding of Mill as a founding father of liberalism is a Cold War creation. Discarding this conception opens the way to a general reassessment of his thought: who was the historical Mill? He did not define himself as liberal and there is no simple template. Most obviously he is a pluralist, defined by a plural heritage received through his father. This framework permitted great creativity in political and social theory, but it was diffuse. The one clear unifying theme is a unique conception of a hierarchy of intellect founded on the inexorable accumulation of positive knowledge. The one important exception to this is political economy. What stands out overall is his individuality, where Mill embodies his own ideal. So apart from political economy, where he could be identified in more conventional terms, his nineteenth-century legacy was personal and incalculably diffusive rather than doctrinaire. This left it ripe for twentieth-century re-invention. |
| spellingShingle | Ghosh, P Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title | Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title_full | Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title_fullStr | Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title_short | Mill before Liberalism (parts I and II) |
| title_sort | mill before liberalism parts i and ii |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ghoshp millbeforeliberalismpartsiandii |