Adam Ferguson on Partisanship, Party Conflict, and Popular Participation

Skjönsberg, Max

doi:10.1017/s1479244317000099

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But as Max Skjönsberg has argued, this is to exaggerate Ferguson's interest in factions. 50 It is true that Ferguson worried about passivity in the population, and that devices designed to maintain social order might suppress healthy political action. But the political action that Ferguson envisages is action within the constitution.…”

Section: Ferguson On Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Adam Ferguson on Trade and Empire

Smith

2023

etudes-benthamiennes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Ferguson On Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Adam Ferguson on Trade and Empire

Smith

2023

etudes-benthamiennes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…32 We learn from Ferguson's correspondence, however, that he is unlikely to have approved of such descriptions. 33 For example, in a series of letters to his friend the Scottish parliamentarian William (Johnstone) Pulteney, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the new form of opposition party that emerged in the late 1760s in the shape of the Rockingham Whigs -the party defended by their loyal member and publicist Edmund Burke in his Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770). 34 Ferguson was deeply disturbed by the Rockingham Whigs' perceived willingness to exploit popular discontent, particularly over the question of 'Wilkes and liberty.'…”

Section: I: the Lead-up To Romementioning

confidence: 99%

Adam Ferguson on the Perils of Popular Factions and Demagogues in a Roman Mirror

Skjönsberg

2019

History of European Ideas

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For the Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson (1723Ferguson ( -1816 and many of his time, the history of the Roman Republic furnished the best case study for discussions of internal threats to a mixed system of government. These included factionalism, popular discontent, and the rise of demagogues seeking to concentrate power in their own hands. Ferguson has sometimes been interpreted as a 'Machiavellian' who celebrated the legacy of Rome and in particular the value of civic discord. By contrast, this article argues that he is better understood as a disciple of Montesquieu, who viewed Rome as an anachronistic and dangerous ideal in the eighteenth century, the era of the civilized and commercial monarchy.The greatest fear of Ferguson was military despotism, which was the likely outcome of democratic chaos produced by the levelling instincts of the 'common' people and demagogues prepared to harness their discontent. In such a scenario, a legitimate order in a mixed government would be turned into a faction putting the constitutional balance at risk, undermining intermediary powers, and ending liberty for all.Like many political thinkers in the eighteenth century, Adam Ferguson (1723Ferguson ( -1816 approached questions of empire, constitutionalism, and faction through the lens of the rise and fall of the Roman Republic. Ferguson's understudied History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1783) has often been referred to as a straightforward narrative history, which is also how the author himself presented it. 1 Yet within the narrative, we will see that Ferguson evaluated events from the standpoint of a moralist and political thinker. The story was a familiar one, but eighteenth-century authors emphasized different elements and drew different conclusions depending on their political opinions and commitments. Ferguson often left lessons implicit in his rendition of events, but on several occasions he clearly stated his views. Although a strong believer in presenting historical facts

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, the Stoics were not fully averse to a degree of ‘political particularism’, either (cf. Skjönsberg 2017, 8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…56.For a discussion of Stoic elements in Ferguson: Hill (2006, 34–9), Kettler (2005, ch. 6) and Skjönsberg (2017, 6–10). I briefly discuss Nicolai’s argument (2014a, 2014b) that Ferguson’s moral philosophy cannot properly be called Stoic in Bijlsma (2019, 358, fn.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Of savages and Stoics: Converging moral and political ideals in the conjectural histories of Rousseau and Ferguson

Bijlsma

2021

Philosophy & Social Criticism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article undertakes a comparative study of the conjectural histories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Ferguson, focusing on the convergences in the moral and political ideals expressed and grounded in these histories. In comparison with Scots like Adam Smith and John Millar, the conjectural histories of Ferguson and Rousseau follow a similar historical trajectory as regards the development and progress of commercial, political and cultural arts. However, their assessment of the moral progress of humanity does not, or in a much more limited way than in Smith and Millar, correlate with this trajectory. Rousseau and Ferguson see a candour and vigour in savage and barbarian societies that is much less easily supported by the complex socio-economic framework of modern, commercial societies. It is argued that the convergences in their conjectural histories arise from a similar fusion of these histories with Stoic and republican perspectives. While Rousseau and Ferguson do not see history as cyclical, they think that the forces that push towards moral decline are strong and can, on the political level, only be countered by firm republican policies. Furthermore, their shared Stoic ideal of the life lived according to nature informs their solutions for modern societies.

show abstract

Adam Ferguson on Partisanship, Party Conflict, and Popular Participation

Cited by 6 publications

References 29 publications

Adam Ferguson on Trade and Empire

Adam Ferguson on Trade and Empire

Adam Ferguson on the Perils of Popular Factions and Demagogues in a Roman Mirror

Of savages and Stoics: Converging moral and political ideals in the conjectural histories of Rousseau and Ferguson

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About