Project Gutenberg 2005-08-01 Public domain in the USA. 137 Ferguson, Adam 1723 1816 An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Eighth Edition Reading ease score: 44.2 (College-level). Difficult to read. Produced by Stan Goodman, William Craig, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team "An Essay on the History of Civil Society" by Adam Ferguson is a philosophical work written during the 18th century. This essay explores the development of human societies and the principles underlying civil society, examining topics such as human nature, social structures, and moral sentiments. Ferguson delves into the evolution of man from a state of nature to organized societies, investigating how individual characteristics and societal factors interact to shape civilization. The opening of the essay begins with an exploration of the state of nature, contrasting ideas about human characteristics in their primitive conditions versus their developed states. Ferguson posits that mankind has transitioned from a rudimentary existence to one characterized by civilization, emphasizing the importance of societal bonds and moral sentiments in human development. He critiques various theories that attempt to define human nature based strictly on speculation or conjecture, advocating instead for a focus on observable human behaviors and historical facts. Ferguson argues that individual and collective experiences within society are crucial to understanding humanity, setting the stage for a broader discussion about the consequences of civil and commercial arts on nations. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Civilization -- History Civil society -- History CB Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: History - General 696100 695966 2024-10-04T08:10:55.651778 2023-10-04T07:43:44.938795 text/html text/html 696093 695959 2024-10-04T08:10:55.953789 2023-10-04T07:43:45.145776 text/html text/html 338734 2024-10-04T08:11:05.943682 application/epub+zip 347625 2024-10-04T08:10:59.707746 application/epub+zip 312251 2024-10-04T08:10:58.383738 application/epub+zip 672285 2024-10-04T08:11:11.293671 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 628585 2024-10-04T08:11:05.073730 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 571999 2022-09-04T11:18:59.646688 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 663463 663380 2024-10-04T08:10:55.187743 2023-10-04T07:43:44.601784 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 658590 2021-01-02T09:40:11 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 234453 2021-01-02T09:40:11 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 19041 2024-10-04T08:11:11.415700 application/rdf+xml 20319 2024-10-04T08:10:58.922787 image/jpeg 4343 2024-10-04T08:10:58.653720 image/jpeg 333182 2024-10-04T08:10:56.012744 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia