Origin of the Distinction of Ranks

Name: Origin of the Distinction of Ranks
Brand: Liberty Fund Inc. (US)
Price: 10.95 GBP
Availability: InStock

Or An Inquiry into the Circumstances Which Give Rise to Influence & Authority in the Different Members of Society

Written by John Millar and Aaron Garrett

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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.

John Millar's works brilliantly explore the nature of English governance through a prism of the natural law tradition and Scottish philosophical history. Millar was a student of Adam Smith's at Glasgow University and his most important immediate intellectual heir. His works provide an essential linkage to Smith.

ISBN-13: 9780865974777
Publisher: Liberty Fund Inc.
Imprint: Liberty Fund Inc. (US)
Publication date: 1 February 2006
Format: Paperback
Pages: 316
Dimensions: 155 x 230 mm
Language: English