Origin of the Distinction of Ranks

John Millar

ISBN 10: 0865974772 / ISBN 13: 9780865974777

Published by Liberty Fund Inc, US, 2006

About this Item

This is one of the major products of the Scottish Enlightenment and a masterpiece of jurisprudence and social theory. Building on David Hume, Adam Smith, and their respective natural histories of man, John Millar developed a progressive account of the nature of authority in society by analysing changes in subsistence, agriculture, arts, and manufacture. 'The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks' is perhaps the most precise and compact development of the abiding themes of the liberal wing of the Scottish Enlightenment. Drawing on Smith's four-stages theory of history and the natural law's traditional division of domestic duties into those toward servants, children, and women, Millar provides a rich historical analysis of the ways in which progressive economic change transforms the nature of authority. In particular, he argues that, with the progress of arts and manufacture, authority tends to become less violent and concentrated, and ranks tend to diversify.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780865974777

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Origin of the Distinction of Ranks
• Publisher: Liberty Fund Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0865974772
• ISBN 13: 9780865974777
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 552 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks is one of the major products of the Scottish Enlightenment and a masterpiece of jurisprudence and social theory. Drawing on Adam Smith’s four-stages theory of history and the natural law’s traditional division of domestic duties into those toward servants, children, and women, Millar provides a rich historical analysis of the ways in which progressive economic change transforms the nature of authority.

John Millar (1735–1801) attended Adam Smith’s lectures at the University of Glasgow and later became a distinguished professor of law there.

Aaron Garrett is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston University.

About the Author

Aaron Garrett is Assistant Professor at Boston University. He has contributed to a number of publications and is the editor of Francis Hutcheson, An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections (2002) and Animal Rights and Souls in the Eighteenth Century (2000).