Reading Mill Studies in Political Theory Ian Cook READING MILL: STUDIES IN POLITICALTHEORY This page intentionally left blank Reading Mill: Studies in Political Theory Ian Cook LecturerinPoliticalTheory Murdoch University Murdoch Australia FirstpublishedinGreatBritain1998by MACMILLANPRESSLTD Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG21 6XSandLondon Companiesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. ISBN0-333-69609-3 FirstpublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 1998by ST.MARTIN'SPRESS,INC., ScholarlyandReferenceDivision, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,N.Y. 10010 ISBN0-312-21204-6 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Cook,Ian, 1960- ReadingMill:studiesinpoliticaltheory/IanCook. p. em. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-312-21204-6(cloth) I.Mill,johnStuart, I806-1873-Contributionsinpolitical science. I.Title. JC223.M66C66 1997 320'.092-dc21 97-41421 CIP ©IanCook 1998 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthispublicationmaybemade withoutwrittenpermission. No paragraph ofthis publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in.accordance with the provisions ofthe Copyright, Designs and PatentsAct 1988,orunderthe terms ofany licencepermitting limitedcopying issuedby theCopyrightLicensingAgency,90TottenhamCourtRoad,LondonWIP9HE. Anypersonwhodoesany unauthorisedactinrelationtothis publicationmaybeliable to criminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhis righttobe identifiedas theauthorofthis work inaccordance withtheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustainedforestsources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby AntonyRoweLtd,Chippenham,Wiltshire To Sally, Jack and Nicholas This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements xi A Note on the Citation ofMill's Works xiii Introduction 1 Answers to the Question 'What is Political Theory?' 7 Introduction 7 TRADITIONALIST ANSWERS 9 Being and Knowing (Traditionalist) 9 Reading.Political Theory (Traditionalist) 11 HISTORICIST ANSWERS 14 Being and Knowing (Historicist) 14 Reading Political Theory (Historicist) 16 LINGUISTIC ANSWERS 19 Being and Knowing (Linguistic) 19 Reading Political Theory (Linguistic) 21 BEHAVIOURALIST ANSWERS 26 Being and Knowing (Behaviouralist) 27 Reading Political Theory (Behaviouralist) 30 Not Reading Mill (Behaviouralist) 31 CONCLUSION 33 2 Reading Mill within a Traditionalist Framework 37 .Introducing Traditionalist Reading 37 Introduction 37 HUMAN NATURE 38 Psychology 38 Necessity and Free Will 41 Women 42 Human Nature 44 THE GOOD LIFE 44 Individuality 45 Pleasure 46 Tradition and Custom 48 The Good Life 50 THE GOOD SOCIETY 51 History 51 vii viii Contents The Stationary State 52 Socialism 53 The Proper Role ofGovernment 57 Education 60 Self-Regarding Actions 61 The Good Society 62 CONCLUSION 64 3 Reading Mill within an Historicist Framework 65 Introducing Historicist Reading 65 Introduction 65 A PSYCHOLOGICAL-HISTORICIST READING 66 Introduction 66 Psychological Crisis and Understanding Mill on Associationism, Necessity and Individuality 67 The Crisis 67 Associationism 71 Necessity 73 Individuality 74 Relationships with Key Individuals and Understanding Mill on Women 75 Relationships with Key Individuals 75 Women 78 Conclusion 79 AN INTELLECTUAL-HISTORICIST READING 79 Introduction 79 Bentham, Wordsworth and Understanding Mill on Pleasure 80 Bentham 81 Wordsworth 82 Understanding Mill on Pleasure 85 The Classical Economists, Comte and Understanding Mill on History and the Stationary State 87 The Classical Economists 87 Comte 90 Understanding Mill on History 93 Understanding Mill on the Stationary State 94 Conclusion 95 A SOCIAL·HISTORICIST READING 95 Introduction 95 Contents ix The Growth of the City and Understanding Mill on the Proper Role of Government and Self-Regarding Actions 97 The Growth ofthe City 97 Understanding Mill on the Proper Role of Government 98 Understanding Mill on Self-Regarding Actions 99 The Rise of the Working Class and Understanding Mill on Socialism, Traditions and Customs and Education 101 Worker Co-operatives 102 Understanding Mill on Socialism 103 Working-Class Political Power and Understanding Mill's Views on Traditions and Customs and Education 104 Working-Class Political Power 104 Understanding Mill on Traditions and Customs 107 Understanding Mill on Education. 108 Conclusion 110 CONCLUSION 110 4 Reading Mill within a Linguistic Framework 113 Introducing Linguistic Reading 113 Introduction 116 TAXONOMIES OF USE IN AND FROM MILL'S WORKS 117 'Education' 118 'History' 121 'Individuality' 122 'Custom' 124 PATHOLOGIES OF USE IN MILL'S WORKS 126 'Women' 126 'Pleasure' 128 'Stationary State' 130 ,Association' 135 'Necessity' 137 OTHER INSIGHTS DERIVED FROM A LINGUISTIC FRAMEWORK 139 The 'Proper' Role of 'Government' 139 'Self-regarding' 141 'Socialism' 142 CONCLUSION 148 5 The Four Conceptions Reconsidered 149 POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES 150