Eighteenth century Scottish views on primitive societies: Adam Ferguson, John Millar and William Robertson

This paper will examine eighteenth- century Scottish views on primitive societies from the standpoint of the following three works:1. Adam Ferguson. An Essay on the History of Civil Society 1767, ed. Duncan Forbes. Edinburgh, 1966.2. John Millar. The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks: or, An Inquiry into the Circumstances which give Use to Influence and Authority, in the Different Members of Society, 4th ed. London, 1805.3. William Robertson. The History of America, Bks. I -VIII, 1st ed. 2 vols. London, 1777. The History of America, Bks. IX -X, 1st ed. London, 1796.These works reflect widely different attitudes and approaches toward primitive societies, and thus represent a broad range of eighteenth-century Scottish Opinion. Ferguson's appraisal of primitive societies is sympathetic, Millar's is unsympathetic, while Robertson is considerably more objective.Each work will be discussed in a separate chapter. The chapters will be arranged in chronological sequence according to each work's date of first publication (1767, 1771, and 1777, respectively). And the orks will be compared with one another as the paper advances.Within each chapter, the author's evaluation of primitive societies will be carefully examined in the light of his more general outlook and prejudices (as expressed in the work under consideration). Thus, each chapter will consider:I. The author's intentions. II. His methods and prejudices. III. His analyses of primitive societies. IV. His evaluations of primitive societies in the light of his own culture.Throughout the paper, an effort will be made to allow each author to speak for himself, insofar as possible under the format outlined above. Wherever a striking relationship may be drawn between the thought of Ferguson, Millar,or Robertson and another eighteenth- century Scottish writer, it will be presented, in an effort to reconstruct some of the issues regarding primitive societies which were most actively debated in eighteenth- century Scotland.An Introduction will be included to provide some insight into the historical and biographical aspects of the works and authors under discussion, and a Conclusion will be appended which will attempt to summarise some of their many arguments