Adam Ferguson: Philosophy, Politics and Society Edited by Eugene Heath, Vincenzo Merolle

Increasing numbers of scholars have recognized Ferguson's contribution to Enlightenment thinking, but no collections of scholarly essays have been devoted to him. In this, the second of two related monographs, a set of collected essays analyse Ferguson's philosophical, political and sociological writings and the discourse which they prompted between Ferguson and other important figures such as David Hume and Adam Smith. Much secondary literature on Ferguson is discussed, which highlights how Ferguson can be best understood as a social theorist who employed elements of many strains of thought to reconcile tensions of modernity. Crucially, Ferguson's thoughts on these far-reaching topics are difficult to classify so have often been misrepresented elsewhere. This book addresses these misconceptions. Unique among the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Ferguson saw two eighteenth-century revolutions, the American and the French. On these and on many other important contemporary subjects, the views he expressed helped shape public opinion. Contents: Part I: Life and Works 1. Ferguson the Highlander – Michael Fry 2. Adam Ferguson, the 43rd, and the Fictions of Fontenoy – Bruce Buchan Part II: Philosophy 3. Why did David Hume Dislike Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society? – David Raynor 4. Hume as Critic of Ferguson’s Essay – Vincenzo Merolle 5. The Two Adams: Ferguson and Smith on Sympathy and Sentiment – Jack Russell Weinstein Part III: Politics 6. A Complicated Vision: The Good Polity in Adam Ferguson’s Thought – Lisa Hill 7. Adam Ferguson and Enlightened Provincial Ideology in Scotland – Michael Kugler Part IV: Society 8. ‘But art itself is natural to man’: Ferguson and the Principle of Simultaneity – Christopher J Berry 9. Ferguson and the Unintended Emergence of Social Order – Eugene Heath The Enlightenment World ISBN-13: 978 1 85196 865 7 Pages: 256 Height 234 mm Width 156 mm Publication Date: 01-Nov-08 Publisher: Format: Hardback