An Essay on the History of Civil Society

A pioneering work of the Scottish Enlightenment in the field of “philosophical history”, or what we would today call sociology. It deals with the social, political, economic, intellectual, and legal changes which accompanied societies as they made the transition to modern commercial and manufacturing society.

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Citation

An Essay on the History of Civil Society, 5th ed. (London: T. Cadell, 1782).

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David Hume (Author)

Hume was a fellow Scottish enlightenment philosopher, friend to Ferguson and admirer of his work, though he was critical of An Essay. They were both prominent members of the Edinburgh Select Society and Ferguson succeeded Hume as librarian to the Faculty of Advocates.
Karl Marx (Author)

The German socialist thinker was heavily inspired by Ferguson’s emphasis on the division of labor, corruption of the ruling class, and critiques of capitalism and consumerism.
Francis Hutcheson (Author)

Hutcheson was one of the fathers of the Scottish enlightenment whose work greatly influenced Ferguson, specifically the concept of universal benevolence.
Adam Smith (Author)

Smith was also a Scottish intellectual, and a fellow member of the Edinburgh Select Society whose theories of sympathy and spontaneous order heavily influenced Ferguson’s moral and economic philosophy.
Dugald Stewart (Author)

Stewart was a Scottish moral philosopher in the late Scottish enlightenment who studied under Ferguson, and succeeded his as the chair of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Key Quotes

Economics

Every step and every movement of the multitude, even in what are termed enlightened ages, are made with equal blindness to the future; and nations stumble upon establishments, which are indeed the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design.

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Philosophy

Love is an affection which carries the attention of the mind beyond itself, and is the sense of a relation to some fellow-creature as to its object. Being a complacency and a continued satisfaction in this object, it has, independent of any external event, and in the midst of disappointment and…

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Critical Responses

Book

Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?

Ginny Seung Choi and Virgil Henry Storr

A key claim Ferguson makes in An Essay is that commercial society can lead to corruption and moral degeneration if political and societal leaders don’t create laws and social rules that emphasize morality. Choi and Storr object to Ferguson’s line of thinking and discuss how markets incentivize…

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Connected Readings

What to read next.

Mind Your Manners

Amy Willis

A Five-Part #ReadWithMe Series

Reflections and questions for though on reading Ferguson’s “History” for an AdamSmithWorks Reading Group.

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Book

Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Fate of the Commons

Bruce R. Sievers

Sievers explores the historical evolution of civil society from the 1600’s, including the Scottish enlightenment, and analyzes how these ideas have impacted modern civil society.

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Podcast

Peter Boettke on Katrina and the Economics of Disaster

Peter Boettke and Russ Roberts

EconTalk

Boettke and host Russ Roberts discuss how important civil society organizations are to averting social chaos during crises, a key theme discussed in Ferguson’s work.

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Podcast

Stephanie Slade on Fusionism

Stephanie Slade with Juliette Sellgren

The Great Antidote

Similar to what Ferguson advocates in An Essay, Slade and Sellgren discuss the necessity of traditional virtue connected to economic and social liberty.

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Book

Theory of Moral Sentiments and Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1869)

Adam Smith

Smith delves into the importance of values such as justice, empathy, and social order to broader societal success, expanding on the ideas of morality and civil society in Ferguson’s An Essay.

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Book

Democracy is not a Spectator Sport: The Ultimate Civic Engagement Handbook

Austin Blaustein

Blaustein examines the significance of active citizenship through a variety of mediums of civic engagement such as voting and community service, applying Ferguson’s emphasis on political participation to contemporary America.

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