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Adam Ferguson Quotes

Adam Ferguson, FRSE , also known as Ferguson of Raith , was a 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" for his contributions to the early development of the discipline. His best-known work is his Essay on the History of Civil Society. Wikipedia  

✵ 20. June 1723 – 22. February 1816
Adam Ferguson photo

Works

An Essay on the History of Civil Society
Adam Ferguson: 11 quotes1 like

Famous Adam Ferguson Quotes

“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 book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART I, SECTION IV.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“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.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART I, SECTION II.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“The history of mankind is confined within a limited period, and from every quarter brings an intimation that human affairs have had a beginning.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART II, SECTION I.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“Man, in his animal capacity, is qualified to subsist in every climate.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART III, SECTION I.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“…if we intend to pursue the history of our species in its further attainments, we may soon enter on subjects which will confine our observation to more narrow limits. The genius of political wisdom and civil arts appears to have chosen his seats in particular tracts of the earth, and to have selected his favourites in particular races of men.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART III, SECTION I.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“In every commercial state, notwithstanding any pretension to equal rights, the exaltation of a few must depress the many.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART IV, SECTION II.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

Adam Ferguson Quotes

“Mankind have always wandered or settled, agreed or quarrelled, in troops and companies.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART I, SECTION III.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“The attainments of the parent do not descend in the blood of his children, nor is the progress of man to be considered as a physical mutation of the species.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART I, SECTION I.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“Theory consists in referring particular operations to the principles, or general laws, under which they are comprehended; or in referring particular effects to the causes from which they proceed.”

Adam Ferguson

Introduction, Section IV, Of Theory, p. 7.
Institutes of Moral Philosophy (1769)

“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.”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART III, SECTION II.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

“Men are to be estimated, not from what they know, but from what they are able to perform”

Adam Ferguson book An Essay on the History of Civil Society

PART I, SECTION V.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)

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