FERGUSON, ADAM. - Scottish moralist, sociologist and historian, b. at Logiereit in 1724, from 1764
Connecting his general philosophical conceptions to the doctrine of T. Reid, F. developed an original system of moral and social philosophy tending toward a synthesis of the motifs of egoism, altruism, and moral idealism. However, F. also pursued the treatment of the problems of social life and the State partly according to criteria and methods that anticipate the modern idea of an empirical sociology and political science: in his extensive study on the history of the Roman Republic, he undertakes, in the sense of these sciences, the analysis of the political and social institutions of the ancient Roman State.
Main works: Institutes of moral philosophy (Edinburgh 1769); Principles of moral and political science (2 vols., ibidem 1792); History of the progress and the termination of the Roman republic (3 vols., London 1783).