The Manuscripts of Adam Ferguson
Editor: Vincenzo Merolle
Contributing Editors: Robin Dix and Eugene Heath
The Pickering Masters
978 1 85196 817 6: 234x156mm: £110.00/$195.00
This crucial volume contains a newly-edited cache of over thirty essays on a diverse range of topics from the renowned philosopher, Adam Ferguson, a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment.
The Manuscripts of Adam Ferguson aims to set the Essays more fully in the history of western philosophy, to which they made an important contribution. They give an exhaustive picture of the thinking of the author and expound ideas which build on and extend the originality of his earlier work.
The need for systematic writing in his earlier, published work inevitably marginalized the topics of interest that Ferguson would resume in the leisure of his retirement, where he was free to rethink and clarify earlier problems. Long-unpublished, his later essays represent a re-appraisal of the philosophical, historical and anthropological themes that he had examined before.
In this authoritative collection, Ferguson’s views on disparate philosophical, anthropological and historical topics can at last be viewed in one impressive volume. His texts are transcribed as faithfully as possible and are accompanied by extensive introductions from the general editor and both contributing editors.
Reviews
'...a welcome edition to the growing body of scholarly work on Ferguson...[this edition] is a high-quality contribution to eighteenth century studies that demonstrates careful scholarship and a clear affection for its subject.'
– Craig Smith, Eighteenth-Century Scotland