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Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) was a major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment whose thought was, in many respects, original and distinctive. This book is a study of his ideas and of the intellectual forces that shaped them.
Though somewhat overlooked in the nineteenth century, Ferguson was rescued from obscurity in the first half of the twentieth century by scholars interested in the origins of sociology and early critiques of modernity. Ferguson's interest in the mechanics of social life and especially social change led him to many groundbreaking insights. In fact, he is sometimes identified as the 'Father of Modern Sociology'. In addition to exploring whether or not he merits this title, this study examines the whole of Ferguson's thought as a system and includes his moral and faculty psychology, historiography, theology, politics and social science.
Ferguson is distinguished by his deep appreciation of the complexity of the human condition; his study of society is based on the belief that it is not only reason, but the unseen, unplanned, sub-rational and visceral forces that keep the human universe in motion. Ferguson's appreciation of this fact, and his ability to make social science of it, is his major achievement.
List of contents
Introduction: The Passionate Society.- Reading Ferguson.- Ferguson's Theology/Ontology.- Method and Historiography.- Ferguson's Faculty and Moral Psychology.- Ferguson's "Invisible Hand".- Ferguson'S Early Conflict Theory.- Habit.- The Environment.- Corruption And Problems Of Modernity.- Progress and Decline.- Ferguson's Conservatism.- Conclusion.
About the author
Lisa Hill is Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide. She is a political theorist and intellectual historian who has published extensively on the history of some of the most important ideas in the Western political tradition. Her recent books include Adam Smith's Pragmatic Liberalism: The Science of Welfare (London and New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) and The Intellectual History of Political Corruption (London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, with Bruce Buchan).
Eden Blazejak is a teaching and research assistant at the University of Adelaide. His Honours thesis (for which he was awarded the Tinline Prize) was on the topic "The Hidden Porch: Stoicism in Early Modern Political Thought." He is about to submit his Ph.D. thesis entitled: "Epicureanism in the Enlightenment: The Influence of Epicurean Thought on the Western Political Tradition."
Summary
Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) was a major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment whose thought was, in many respects, original and distinctive. This book is a study of his ideas and of the intellectual forces that shaped them.
Though somewhat overlooked in the nineteenth century, Ferguson was rescued from obscurity in the first half of the twentieth century by scholars interested in the origins of sociology and early critiques of modernity. Ferguson’s interest in the mechanics of social life and especially social change led him to many groundbreaking insights. In fact, he is sometimes identified as the 'Father of Modern Sociology'. In addition to exploring whether or not he merits this title, this study examines the whole of Ferguson’s thought as a
system
and includes his moral and faculty psychology, historiography, theology, politics and social science.
Ferguson is distinguished by his deep appreciation of the complexity of the human condition; his study of society is based on the belief that it is not only reason, but the unseen, unplanned, sub-rational and visceral forces that keep the human universe in motion. Ferguson’s appreciation of this fact, and his ability to make social science of it, is his major achievement.
