James Mill and the Despotism of Philosophy

Reading "The History of British India"

By David McInerney

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About the Book

This study considers the relations between James Mill's The History of British India (1818) and Enlightenment historiography, especially William Robertson's Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge the Ancients had of India (1791). David McInerney argues that it was in The History of British India that Mill first published his theory of government, which appears there in his account of 'Oriental despotism' and his criticisms of Robertson's account of the caste system, and that, contrary to the opinion of certain critics, Mill's usage of 'history' in The History of British India is not rationalist but rather entails a distinctively empiricist conception of the relationship between historical records and the improvement of government.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

James Mill and our postcolonial conjuncture

Chapter 1

The topos of 'Oriental Despotism' in Western political thought

Chapter 2

India in the Scottish Enlightenment: Smith, Millar, Robertson

Chapter 3

The India debates and Mill's departure from 'Common Sense'

Chapter 4

Mill's empiricism and his critique of the Orientalist 'saving hypothesis'

Chapter 5

Mill's account of 'the system of castes' and his essay on 'Government'

Chapter 6

Mill on 'The Mohammedans': Education, Government, and Knowledge

Bibliography