Research Log #1

Research Log #1

Ferguson, Adam. "Adam Ferguson: An Essay on the History of Civil Society: Part First." Index. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. <http://www.constitution.org/af/civil1.htm>.

I found Adam Ferguson’s essay to be very educational and made me think deeply into my question of what is considered to be a civil society and how it even came about. Adam discussed that we as humans are born into groups and then to have sides, as in we are either for something or against it. We view ourselves as individuals but still form a society with others to build each other stronger. A good quote I found to support this claim is, “The human kind, the species has a progress as well as the individual; they build in every subsequent age on foundations formerly laid; and, in a succession of years, tend to a perfection in the application of their faculties, to which the aid of long experience is required, and to which many generations must have combined their endeavors.” Adam suggests we form societies by the way e collect facts, observations and how we deal with past experiments. He also says that we as a union have to get along, and those we have more powerful leaders before us that we follow. Adams writes, “The state of nature is a state of war or of amity, and men are made to unite from a principle of affection, or from a principle of fear, as is most suitable to the system of different writers.” With this said, Adam is saying to us that we follow those who are viewed as a leader to us, we will unite and abide by the rules when we are put into fear of the consequences. He says that we will put up with everyday individuals, just so we can get along and for the profits they will offer when agreed upon things in a civil matter.

            This article stood out to me in a variety of ways. The way Adam says that we count on each other for many things is a huge starting point at where acting civil around each other would be necessary. If we all didn’t get along there would be no point in even thinking about what civil is and how we should go about in acting upon it. I also liked the fact that we all started off being born into groups of people, or a society. If we were animals, we would be born into herds or groups of animals as well and would grow up following the footsteps of our parents and the ones around us. Like animals, we act the same, when forming communities and interactions with other.

            I believe this article was a great starting point for me to think about different ideas on issue of civil society. After reading Adam’s essay, there were a few questions he brought up that made me want to investigate those issues as well. For instance, Adam asks, “Can we explain the principles upon which mankind adjudge the preference of characters, and upon which they indulge such vehement emotions of admiration or contempt?” This question brought up my attention by asking why we have preferences for character types? Overall this article made me think of a lot more topics of a civil society in different ways.