Adam Ferguson (1723 – 1816) ~ Quote of the Day

 

Adam Ferguson FRSE, also known as Ferguson of Raith (20 June 1723 – 22 February 1816), Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment.  Ferguson was sympathetic to traditional societies, such as the Highlands, for producing courage and loyalty.  He criticized commercial society as making men weak, dishonourable and unconcerned for their community.  Ferguson has been called "the father of modern sociology."  In his ethical system Ferguson treats man as a social being, illustrating his doctrines by political examples.  As a believer in the progression of the human race, he placed the principle of moral approbation in the attainment of perfection.  In the political part of his system Ferguson follows Montesquieu, and pleads the cause of well-regulated liberty and free government.   Ferguson believed that civilization is largely about laws that restrict our independence as individuals but provide liberty in the sense of security and justice.  He warned that social chaos usually leads to despotism.  The members of civil society give up their liberty-as-autonomy, which savages possess, in exchange for liberty-as-security, or civil liberty.

“We are fond of distinctions; we place ourselves in opposition,
 and quarrel under the denominations of faction and party,
 without any material subject of controversy.”
                                                                       ~ Adam Ferguson