1723 - 1816

It was during his lifetime that the "Scottish Enlightenment" took place, and Ferguson had a significant influence on several other major thinkers. While teaching at Edinburgh, he taught future economist Adam Smith (Ferguson is credited as the originator of the "invisible hand" theory in economics), and his home in Edinburgh frequently served as a meeting place for people such as Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, David Hume, and others.

Ferguson's most enduring legacy is his Essay on the History of Civil Society, published in 1767. This is today considered an early example of sociological method and inspired others after him, including Karl Marx. Ferguson resigned his professorship in 1785 and soon after traveled to Philadelphia to take part in negotiations to end the American Revolution. Four years later he published his collected lectures under the title, Principles of Moral and Political Science. He died at the age of 93 in 1816 and is mainly remembered today for the quotation, "Civilization is the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design."