Adhamh MacFhearghais
I finished the Litir last week with the proverb ‘it doesn’t harm to tell a good story twice’. The proverb is just as suitable this week because I’m
returning to speaking about a man of whom I gave an account in Litrichean 200 and 201. That’s the big Litir, rather than the Litir Bheag. He was the
philosopher and historian, Adam Ferguson. He was part of the Scottish Enlightenment. He is recognised as ‘The Father of Sociology’.
Ferguson was born in 1723 in Logierait in Perthshire. He was a native speaker of Gaelic. He went to St Andrews University. He was the librarian for the
Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. He was a private teacher to sons of gentry. And he was the Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University.
Why I am speaking about Adam Ferguson today? Well, he died in 1816, two hundred years ago.
Ferguson was famous. He was a friend of David Hume and Adam Smith. He knew Voltaire. he wrote the seciton on ‘History’ in the second edition of
Encyclopaedia Britannica. And it was in his house that Walter Scott and Robert Burns met each other.
Among the things he wrote was an essay
– ‘An Essay on the History of Civil Society’. It’s easy to find on the internet.
Ferguson was a Christian and a Presbyterian. He believed in the advancement of humanity to perfection – driven by personal self-interest. But he was of the
opinion – since God gave Man free will – that there will be times when human society goes backwards. The collapse of the Roman Empire was an example of
that. I wish Adam Ferguson were still alive and able to express his opinions on Radio nan Gàidheal!
Adam Ferguson
I finished the Litir last week with the proverb ‘it doesn’t harm to tell a good story twice’. The proverb is just as suitable this week because I’m
returning to speaking about a man of whom I gave an account in Litrichean 200 and 201. That’s the big Litir, rather than the Litir Bheag. He was the
philosopher and historian, Adam Ferguson. He was part of the Scottish Enlightenment. He is recognised as ‘The Father of Sociology’.
Ferguson was born in 1723 in Logierait in Perthshire. He was a native speaker of Gaelic. He went to St Andrews University. He was the librarian for the
Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. He was a private teacher to sons of gentry. And he was the Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University.
Why I am speaking about Adam Ferguson today? Well, he died in 1816, two hundred years ago.
Ferguson was famous. He was a friend of David Hume and Adam Smith. He knew Voltaire. he wrote the seciton on ‘History’ in the second edition of
Encyclopaedia Britannica. And it was in his house that Walter Scott and Robert Burns met each other.
Among the things he wrote was an essay
– ‘An Essay on the History of Civil Society’. It’s easy to find on the internet.
Ferguson was a Christian and a Presbyterian. He believed in the advancement of humanity to perfection – driven by personal self-interest. But he was of the
opinion – since God gave Man free will – that there will be times when human society goes backwards. The collapse of the Roman Empire was an example of
that. I wish Adam Ferguson were still alive and able to express his opinions on Radio nan Gàidheal!
