Civilization and Women in Early Mill's Thought

An Intellectual Origin of The Subjection of Women

Abstract

This paper studies early Mill's thought on civilization and women especially focusing on his essays “Modern French Historical Works” and “On Marriage”. By focusing on these articles, it is argued that the Scottish historian and philosopher John Millar had profound influence upon early Mill's idea on marital relationship and chivalry. As a result, it will be shown that though Mill learned much from Millar's works, he finally reached the conclusion beyond what Millar had, and said that “for a long time the indissolubility of marriage acted powerfully to elevate the social position of women” but “[t]hat step is now complete”.