John Millar, 1735-1801
Scottish Enlightenment philosopher,
economic historian and Professor of
Civil Law at
the University of Glasgow.
John Millar is only known to have authored two works. A deep admirer of Adam Smith,
John Millar is best know for this Distinctions of Ranks, applying
Smith's theories of civilizational stages to explain the development of
hierarchical structures of society, politics, workplaces and the family.
His other named work is his posthumously published
History of English Government, considered a classical epitome of Whiggish economic
history. (Millar was an early classical liberal, politically
devoted to the Rockingham Whigs).
Millar was the teacher of the elusive John Craig,
and Craig's own 1814 Elements thesis is believed to by some
scholars to be a paraphrasing of Millar's lectures on political science
at Glasgow.
Millar is believed to have authored a series of anonymous
letters to the Scots Chronicle in 1796. These later
compiled together as the Letters of Crito and (with more
uncertainty) the Letters of Sidney (it has been alternatively
posited Craig was the author of the latter).
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Major Works of John Millar
- Observations concerning the Distinction of Ranks in Society,
1771 [bk],
[1773
ed] [1793
edition retitled: The Origin of the Distinction of the Ranks, or
an inquiry into the circumstances which give rise to influence and
authority in the different members of society] [1806
ed], [McM]
[lib]
- [Anon] Letters of Crito on the causes, objects, and consequences
of the present war, 1796 [bk]
[lib]
(compilation of letters to the Scots Chronicle from May to
September, 1796)
- [Anon] Letters of Sidney, on Inequality of Property, to which is
added, a treatise of the effects of War on commercial prosperity,
1796 [lib]
(compilation of letters to the Scots Chronicle from August to
November, 1796; alt. attrib. to John Craig)
- An Historical view of the English Government, from the settlement
of the Saxons in Britain to the Revolution in 1688, to which are
subjoined some dissertations connected with the history of the
government from the Revolution to the present time, 1803,
v.1,
v.2,
v.3,
v.4 [1818 ed,
v.1,
v.2,
v.3,
v.4], [lib]
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Resources on John Millar
- "Account of the Life and Writings of John Millar, Esq." by John
Craig,
p.i-x, in 1806 ed. of Observations concerning the Distinction of
Ranks in Society.
- "Art 13 - Millar's View of English Government", by [Francis Jeffrey],
1803 Edinburgh Review (No. 5, Oct),
p.154
- "Art 5 - Craig's Life of Millar", by [Francis Jeffrey], 1806 Edinburgh Review (No.
17, Oct),
p.83
- "Millar,
John" in R.H. Inglis Palgrave, editor,
1894-1901 Dictionary of Political Economy
[1901 ed.]
- "Millar,
John" in Leslie Stephen & Stephen Lee, editor, 1885-901
Dictionary of National Biography [1908-09 ed]
- Millar
page at McMaster
- Biography
of Millar at McMaster
- Millar page at
Thoemmes
- John Millar of Glasgow, 1735-1801: his life and thought and his
contributions to sociological analysis by W.C. Lehmann, 1960
-
Wikipedia
- Millar
at IESS, 1968
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