Adam Ferguson

Description

Biography

Adam Ferguson (1723-1815), philosopher and historian, was an important figure of the Scottish Enlightenment and had a crucial impact on the development of sociology. His major works are An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767),The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1783), Institutes of Moral Philosophy (1769), Reflections Previous to the Establishment of a Militia (1756). More on Adam Ferguson [13].

Adam Ferguson's contribution to the notion of spontaneous order

Ferguson supports the notion of spontaneous order by arguing that rules governing people arose from experience and not by reason. For example, the transformation of the human society from the savage state (no property and little inequality), to the barbaric state (characterized by the emergence of property concept, and elementary political institutions) and to the polished state (characterized by specialized social roles, manufacturing industry, regulatory system, and division of labor) occurred from “facts of nature”, through the process of humans adapting their behavior to the surrounding circumstances in ways that ensured the highest possible gains for them [2].

Ferguson recognizes the importance of labor division for the achievement of greater productivity: "The artist finds, that the more he can confine his attention to a particular part of any work, his productions are the more perfect, and grow under his hands in the greater quantities. Every undertaker in manufacture finds, that the more he can subdivide the tasks of his workmen, and the more hands he can employ on separate articles, the more are his expences diminished, and his profits increased." [13].

However, just like Adam Smith, he also argues that the division of labor, while economically profitable, does not bring necessarily bring happiness to the workers but results in alienation and unhappiness. "the beggar, who depends upon charity; the labourer, who toils that he may eat; the mechanic, whose art requires no exertion of genius, are degraded by the object they pursue, and by the means they employ to attain it." [13].

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