Adam Ferguson
Humans have always lived in groups, so there never was a state of nature; institutions result from human action, not from human design, and conflict binds societies as much as cooperation does; yet commerce and the division of labour can corrode civic virtue.
Placement
Scottish philosopher in Edinburgh: “An Essay on the History of Civil Society” (1767) studied human beings always in groups, never in a state of nature; institutions arise “from human action, not human design”, and the division of labour can weaken public spirit.
Key ideas
- Society as the natural state of humans
- Results of human action, not design
- Division of labour and civic virtue
- Conflict and social cohesion
Influence
Influenced by 1
Montesquieu
influenced by ✓
Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) builds on Montesquieu’s comparative politics; recalling Montesquieu, he was ‘at a loss’ why he should treat of human affairs. A. Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767), ed. F. Oz-Salzberger (1995)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Montesquieu › 1689–1755
Influenced 2
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
influenced
Hegel drew on Ferguson’s Institutes of Moral Philosophy, read in Garve’s translation, for his concept of civil society (Philosophy of Right, 1820), as N. Waszek showed. N. Waszek, The Scottish Enlightenment and Hegel’s Account of ‘Civil Society’ (1988); A. Ferguson, Grundsätze der Moralphilosophie, tr. C. Garve (1772); G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1820)
Evidence: AI draft
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Karl Marx
influenced
Marx cited Ferguson on the crippling effects of the division of labour (Essay on the History of Civil Society, 1767) in Capital I (1867), calling him Smith’s teacher. K. Marx, Misère de la philosophie (1847); Das Kapital I (1867), on the division of labour in manufacture; A. Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)
Evidence: AI draft
Karl Marx › 1818–1883
Criticism
Criticized by 1
David Hume
criticised by
Hume judged the draft of Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society unfit for the public in style and reasoning (letter to Hugh Blair, 1766). D. Hume to H. Blair, 11 Feb. 1766, in The Letters of David Hume, ed. J. Y. T. Greig (1932), vol. II
Evidence: AI draft
David Hume › 1711–1776
Criticizes 1
Adam Smith
criticised
Ferguson disputed Smith’s preference for a standing army over a citizen militia (letter of 1776) and, in a manuscript dialogue, his grounding of moral approval in sympathy. Ferguson to Smith, 1776, in The Correspondence of Adam Smith (Glasgow Edition, 1977); A. Ferguson, “Of the Principle of Moral Estimation”, ed. E. C. Mossner, Journal of the History of Ideas 21 (1960)
Evidence: AI draft
Adam Smith › 1723–1790
Works
Human beings must be studied in groups; nations move from “rude” to “polished” states through institutions that are “the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design”, yet commercial refinement and the division of labour can corrode public spirit.
Textbook of his Edinburgh lectures on human nature, the mind, and moral and political law; Christian Garve’s German translation of 1772 (“Grundsätze der Moralphilosophie”) made Ferguson known to German readers, among them Hegel.
Position
Ferguson is on the map as a founder of social theory within the Scottish Enlightenment and a key figure in the prehistory of sociology. In “An Essay on the History of Civil Society” (1767) he insisted that human beings must be studied as they have always been found – in groups; there never was a solitary state of nature, and “if we are asked where the state of nature is to be found, we may answer: it is here”. Societies develop from “rude” to “polished” states through institutions that are “the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design” – a formula later central to theories of spontaneous order. Conflict between groups, he argued, strengthens cohesion within them. At the same time he warned of the costs of commercial progress: the division of labour makes workers skilled but narrow, and when citizens leave public affairs to specialists and their defence to standing armies, civic virtue decays and despotism threatens. Hume, his friend, judged the manuscript of the Essay harshly and advised against its publication; with Smith he had a long priority dispute over the division of labour, and he criticised Smith’s theory of sympathy. Marx quoted him on the crippling effects of the division of labour, and Hegel, who read his “Institutes” in Christian Garve’s German translation, drew on him for his concept of civil society. Some later writers have called him a “father of sociology”.
Life & context
Adam Ferguson was born on 20 June 1723 at Logierait in Perthshire, the son of a Presbyterian minister, in a region where Gaelic was spoken. He studied at St Andrews and Edinburgh and from 1745 to 1754 served as chaplain to the Black Watch, a Highland regiment. In 1757 he succeeded David Hume as keeper of the Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh. He became professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1759 and of pneumatics and moral philosophy in 1764, a chair he held until 1785. He belonged to the circle of Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson and Hugh Blair, and in 1778–79 he was secretary to the Carlisle Commission sent to negotiate with the American colonies. He died in St Andrews on 22 February 1816, at the age of 92.
Further main works
- The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1783)
- Principles of Moral and Political Science (1792)
Appears in
- Journey ‘How Sociology Emerged from Philosophy’ · Stop 4 of 12
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