ABSTRACT
Adam Ferguson’s thoughts about society can be fully understood only in the light of his conception of virtue. Information about who and what Ferguson was, is indispensable for the interpretation of his conception of virtue precisely because the conception was an ideal projection of his own role. Two links, in Ferguson's view, bind the understanding of virtue to the understanding of society. First, virtuous men require knowledge about the truly good ends of society and about the means appropriate to achieving those ends because love of society manifested in active social benefaction is the main attribute of virtue. Secondly, promoters of virtue must learn about society because, he believed, human virtue can arise only in society and—more specifically—can as a rule arise only in the kind of society which provides it stimulation and encouragement. Ferguson judged society "as a state to be valued from its effects in preserving the species, in ripening their talents, and exciting their virtues.".
