Work · Empiricism, Enlightenment & Liberalism
An Essay on the History of Civil Society
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.
Introduction
Ferguson published “An Essay on the History of Civil Society” in Edinburgh in 1767; it went through several editions and was translated into German in 1768 and into French in 1783. The book studies human beings as they have always been found – in society – and rejects the idea of a solitary state of nature. It describes the progress of nations from “rude” to “polished” states through institutions that are the result of human action but not of human design, and analyses the role of conflict in social cohesion. Its later parts warn that commercial refinement, the division of labour and standing armies can corrode civic virtue. The Essay is a key text of the Scottish Enlightenment and of the prehistory of sociology.
Connections
Builds on
- The Spirit of the Laws1748 · Montesquieu
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