The life of Adam Ferguson

Adam Ferguson (1723 - 1816) was one of the major thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. In the 18th century, at the same time as the French Enlightenment was taking place, there was another Enlightenment in Scotland in the north of England. The principles they advocated were very different from French thought, as shown in the following: They were almost unanimously opposed to the state of nature theory and the social contract theory. , generally adopts a low-key attitude towards rationality or has different explanations, emphasizing the power of emotion, and starting from traditional British empiricism, it explores and explains the causes and laws of social changes and new problems faced by business civilization. Among them, famous thinkers include David Hume, Adam Smith, etc. Among them, Adam Ferguson made a prescient criticism of the emerging commercial civilization, which made him, Hume and Smith's criticism of modern commercial civilization Being distinguished from optimism also means that Ferguson's social thought is at odds with the academic mainstream of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Ferguson was born in Perthshire, between the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland. He was the only Scottish Enlightenment thinker who had ties to the Scottish Highlands. Before the integration of the Scottish Highlands, there were primitive tribes, and the economy was still very backward. Ferguson's early contact with these Gaelic-speaking Highland tribesmen had an important influence on him, which was later reflected in his discussion of "uncivilized" society and "civilized" society, making him think differently about civilization. The different characteristics that stages possess have a more tolerant mindset. Second, the classical education Ferguson received had a great influence on his thinking. Ferguson was good at Greek and Latin when he was young. He studied at St. Andrews College and the University of Edinburgh, and was familiar with the history of ancient Greece and Rome. Among them, Plato's political philosophy had a great influence on him. Plato's influence on Athens While doubting democracy, he admired the Spartan political system; in Ferguson, you can find his praise for Sparta everywhere; in addition, he also praised the early Roman revolution and the state. He was highly regarded and wrote a very good history of Rome - "On the Progress of History and the End of the Roman Republic" (1783). This work was widely circulated in Britain and the United States and won him worldwide popularity. reputation.

Ferguson spent most of his life in the academy. From 1759 when he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh until he resigned from the teaching position due to health reasons in 1785, except for a trip to the United States to negotiate and a short period as a private tutor for a nobleman, Ferguson never left the academic life. In 1764, he began He served as professor of pneumatics (similar to psychology) and moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and wrote a large number of works①, among which An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) was the most important. Ferguson Most of the social thoughts and political theories passed down to later generations come from this.