John Millar

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For the New Zealand politician see John A. Millar

For the Canadian politician see John Millar

John Millar of Glasgow (June 22, 1735 – May 30, 1801) was a Scottish philosopher and historian.

Born in Shotts, Scotland, Millar studied at Glasgow, where he became one of the most important followers of the founder of economics science, Adam Smith. In 1761 Millar became professor of civil law at Glasgow, and soon his lectures gained him nationwide fame. In his Origin of the Distinction of Ranks published in 1778 he advanced the view that all social relations, even relations between the genders, are determined by the economic system. Such a view became later known as the economic determinism. His Historical View of the English Government from 1787 was one of the most important contemporary history of England, representing a milestone in the development of historiography. Millar comparatively drew upon the works of other historians, and emphasized the social and economic bases of political developments and institutions, which strongly differentiated his work from those of many of his precursors, which where much closer to what we would today call fiction.

[edit] External links

• Selected primary works
• Full text of The Origin of The Distinction of Ranks
• John Millar at The Online Library of Liberty