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Contesting Patrilineal Descent in Political Theory: James Mill and Nineteenth-Century Feminism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Jim Jose
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Abstract

Liberal philosopher James Mill has been understood as being unambiguously antifeminist. However, Terence Ball, supposedly informed by a feminist perspective, has argued for a new interpretation. Ball has reconceptualized Mill as a feminist and the sole source of the feminism of his son (J. S. Mill), suggesting a revision of the received wisdom about their relationship to the development of nineteenth century feminist thought. This paper takes issue with Ball's “new interpretation” and its presumed feminist basis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , Winter 2000 , pp. 151 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by Hypatia, Inc.

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