Ferguson: An Essay on the History of Civil Society
| By: | Adam Ferguson |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Print ISBN: | 9780521442152 |
| eText ISBN: | 9781107776609 |
| Edition: | 0 |
| Format: | Page Fidelity |
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Adam Ferguson's Essay on the History of Civil Society (first published in 1767) is a classic of the Scottish - and European - Enlightenment. Drawing on such diverse sources as classical authors and contemporary travel literature, Ferguson offers a complex model of historical advance which challenges both Hume's and Smith's embrace of modernity and the primitivism of Rousseau. Ferguson combines a subtle analysis of the emergence of modern commercial society with a critique of its abandonment of civic and communal virtues. Central to Ferguson's theory of citizenship are the themes of conflict, play, political participation and military valour. The Essay is a bold and novel attempt to reclaim the tradition of active, virtuous citizenship and apply it to the modern state.