Adam Fergunson: a presentation

Abstract

In this paper, in the sense of history of ideas, we discuss about the life and works of the Scottish philosopher Adam Ferguson (1723-1816), mainly on his book An Essay on the History of the Civil Society (1767), his most notable work. The key point, a general concern among Scottish thinkers of the XVIIIth century, and appears insistently in Ferguson, is the trying to reconcile moral values in a commercial society. We used two commentators, David Kettler and Fania Oz-Salzberger, as well as academic papers and books of other authors as secondary references.