Adam Ferguson and the Idea of Civil Society: Moral Science in the Scottish EnlightenmentAuthor :
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Published : Tuesday 25 August 2020
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Description
Craig Smith explores Ferguson's thought and examines his attempt to develop a genuine moral science and its place in providing a secure basis for the virtuous education of the new elite of Hanoverian Britain. The Ferguson that emerges is much closer to the mainstream of the Scottish Enlightenment than previous studies have suggested.
Examines Adam Ferguson's philosophy, political theory and social thought in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment Adam Ferguson, a friend of David Hume and Adam Smith, was among the leading Scottish Enlightenment figures who worked to develop a science of man. He created a methodology for moral science that combined empirically based social theory with normative moralising. He was among the first in the English-speaking world to make use of the terms civilization, civil society and political science. Craig Smith explores Ferguson's thought, and examines his attempt to develop a genuine moral science and its place in providing a secure basis for the virtuous education of the new elite of Hanoverian Britain. The Ferguson that emerges is far from the stereotyped image of a republican sceptical about commercial society and much closer to the mainstream of the Scottish Enlightenment and its defence of the new British commercial order. Key Features The first monograph explicitly devoted to the idea of civil society in the work of Adam Ferguson - its earliest British exponent Places civil society at the heart of a study of Ferguson's methodology of social science Contributes to the history and understanding of a key concept in contemporary social and political thinking Challenges the existing interpretations of Ferguson as a sceptic about commercial modernity who was more of an old-fashioned stoic or republican moralist than a fully signed up member of the Scottish Enlightenment
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