Canadian Journal of Sociology Online January-February 2006
The reissue of this examination of Adam Ferguson some 40 years after its initial publication with the Ohio University Press reflects the quality of David Kettler's argument, not to mention the continued relevance of Adam Ferguson's thought for a contemporary generation of scholars. Although originally situated in relation to Mannheim's sociology of knowledge and theory of intellectuals, the book's introduction and afterword reconsiders Adam Ferguson's contribution in light of current debates about the nature and constitution of 'civil society'. Ferguson is perhaps best known in contemporary circles as the celebrated author of the Essay on the History of Civil Society (1766), an essay that represents one of the earliest considerations of the idea of civil society. As Kettler's book deftly demonstrates, however, it is misleading for contemporary scholars to reduce Ferguson's contribution to social and political thought to a study or celebration of civil society. Considered as a whole, Ferguson's work reveals a complex engagement with moral philosophy and the science of human nature, themes which situate him in relation to other luminaries of the Scottish Enlightenment such as Francis Hutcheson, David Hume and Adam Smith.
One of the characteristics of Scottish philosophy of the eighteenth century is an attempt to reconcile the advent of commercial interests with a commitment to upholding traditional moral values. Intended as an overview and introduction to Ferguson's work, Kettler's book convincingly demonstrates that Adam Ferguson's work offers one of the best examples of an overriding concern with spiritual regeneration and moral approbation during this time of radical and unprecedented change (97). Despite his participation in debates on moral epistemology, Kettler suggests that Ferguson is better remembered for his social and political thought than for his moral philosophy. This is largely due to the complexity of Ferguson's thinking, a fact that has as much to do with the substance of his ideas as it does with the myriad of ambiguities and contradictions that plague his writing. In Kettler's hands, Ferguson receives a critical, but not unbalanced, consideration of the strengths and limitations of his work. Ferguson emerges as a figure intellectually engaged in the vital demands of the day, but whose capacity for contributing unique and innovative insights to moral epistemology and speculative philosophy are largely inadequate in comparison with his understanding of modern social and political life (294).
Although many of Ferguson's writings consider the nature of social life, the question of individual virtue emerges as a central motivating theme throughout his work (138). This is a conception of virtue that is by necessity social. The virtuous individual is one who cultivates virtue by seeking to strengthen and build social ties, for it is society that contributes to the development of virtue (188). The teleological aspects of this argument notwithstanding, this is a conception of virtue that is plagued by numerous contradictions and ambiguities, and it is in this context that Kettler offers a useful reconstruction of the central ambiguities and challenges posed by Ferguson's work. He suggests that Ferguson's understanding of virtue is marked by conflicting commitments to a passive acceptance of the existing social order exemplified by a philosophical adherence to Stoicism, and an activist conviction that reflected the desire to alter those situations that did not enable humanity to 'plunge actively into a struggle for perfection' (141). Accordingly, Kettler demonstrates that Ferguson's ideological commitment to the Stoic ideal was incompatible with his realization of the intellectual necessity of an active entrepreneurial spirit to guide Scotland through the vagaries of social and commercial exchange in the modern era: "The virtuous man, in brief, was urged by Ferguson to adopt some maxims incompatible with Stoicism in order to become an obedient and useful member of society" (163). One of Kettler's contributions is to show how Ferguson's role as an intellectual forced him to develop the non-Stoical elements of his thought in an effort to accord with the progressive development of modern social life.
Kettler uses this discussion to reveal the centrality of Ferguson's conception of individual virtue for his understanding of the relationship between virtue and society. Ferguson is most avowedly a social thinker, and accordingly, is interested in the ways that society contributes to the progressive development of human self-actualization. Society offers outlets for both civil and uncivil conduct, and in so doing, provides the necessary foundation for a moral and virtuous life (195). This is an image of society that is situated in the context of a progressive movement of social life from 'savage' to 'barbarous' to 'polished' forms. In keeping with the development of modern social life, Ferguson argues that the form of government most capable of cultivating moral life is a moderate, but democratic republic. It is an image of society that demonstrates Ferguson's vicious opposition to despotism, but nonetheless reveals how his thinking is very much in keeping with those of his intellectual milieu.
As an introduction to Ferguson's work and to his intellectual context, this book is an undeniable success. Kettler's treatment is careful, thoughtful and offers a balanced attempt to understand the contradictions and inconsistencies within Ferguson's thought. It is perhaps less successful as a contribution to contemporary debates on civil society, but this is precisely Kettler's point, for Ferguson is far too complex a thinker to be simply appropriated as a signpost for proponents of civil society. To do so is to ignore the numerous challenges, contradictions and ambiguities of Ferguson's thought, and to fix limits on a somewhat undisciplined thinker who nonetheless represents a useful example of Scottish Enlightenment thinking that upholds a commitment to traditional moral values in the face of tremendous social and economic change.
Melanie White
Department of Sociology
Trent University
http://www.cjsonline.ca/reviews/ferguson.html
February 2006
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