The “Vanity of the Philosopher”: Analytical Egalitarianism, Associationist Psychology, and Eugenic Remaking?

Abstract

These comments explore the relationship between analytical egalitarianism, race-blind theorizing, and associationist psychology. Associationist psychology, though making an implicit appearance in Vanity, was central to the egalitarian analysis provided by James Mill and John Stuart Mill. Indeed, associationist considerations lay at the heart of Mill's race-blind analysis of cottier tenure, and his exchange with Thomas Carlyle over the "Negro Question." These comments also note some intriguing comparisons between the debate over eugenics and the debate over socialist calculation.