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Adam Ferguson's Later Writings - (Edinburgh Studies in Scottish Philosophy) by Ian Stewart & Max Skjönsberg
About this item
Highlights
- This volume will publish for the first time thirty-six, until now, unpublished letters, as well as a new essay on the French Revolution, by the moral philosopher, historian and man-of-letters Adam Ferguson (1723-1816).
- Author(s): Ian Stewart & Max Skjönsberg
- 264 Pages
- Philosophy, Individual Philosophers
- Series Name: Edinburgh Studies in Scottish Philosophy
Description
About the Book
A critically introduced and edited collection of new letters and an essay by the philosopher Adam Ferguson.Book Synopsis
This volume will publish for the first time thirty-six, until now, unpublished letters, as well as a new essay on the French Revolution, by the moral philosopher, historian and man-of-letters Adam Ferguson (1723-1816). A major figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, Ferguson has been one of the principal beneficiaries of the refocus of scholarly attention beyond the towering figures of David Hume (1711-1776) and Adam Smith (1723-1790) and toward their larger intellectual network. Penned during the last decades of his life, these letters were all addressed to his close friend Sir John Macpherson. They concern major topics of the day such as Enlightenment, Empire, and the French Revolution, as well as various illuminating details about Ferguson's final decades. They add considerably to our knowledge of the late Scottish Enlightenment.
Located in a recent acquisition at the British Library, these previously unnoticed letters add considerably to our knowledge of Ferguson, his ideas - philosophical, historical, and political - and his intellectual milieu from 1784 to 1815. A substantial introductory essay presents the main findings, while critical apparatus will assist specialists and students alike in understanding this key Enlightenment thinker.
Review Quotes
New writings by Adam Ferguson are made available for the first time in this significant edition. Important re-discovered letters (and one essay) shed fresh light on his original commentary on the French Revolution, and introduce his frequent correspondent Sir James Macpherson as a key player in late Scottish Enlightenment networks.
--Anna Plassart, Open UniversityStewart & Skjönsberg have provided contemporary readers with an Adam Ferguson feast in a splendidly edited and introduced set of hitherto unpublished letters and an essay on the French Revolution, in addition to providing modern editions of Ferguson's late works and correspondence. The politics of Scottish moral philosophy in the context of enlightenment and revolution need to be reassessed in the light of their outstanding scholarship.
--Richard Whatmore, University of St AndrewsThree dozen new letters from Adam Ferguson to Sir John Macpherson highlight this volume of writings from the latter part of Ferguson's career. Filled with Ferguson's characteristic wit and charm, the letters constitute a valuable addition to our knowledge of the man and his circle.
--Richard B. Sher, author of Church and University in the Scottish Enlightenmenta welcomed addition to Scottish Enlightenment studies.--Mark G. Spencer, Brock University "History of European Ideas"
The volume's backbone and raison d'être remain the rediscovered manuscripts, which are usefully contextualized in a wide-ranging introduction. They depict a Ferguson who was not a backward-looking ancient republican but rather a well-informed participant in the great political upheavals that marked the late Enlightenment.--Anna Plassart "Eighteenth-Century Scotland"