An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Eighth Edition

by Adam Ferguson

Introduction.

Chap. I. Of the Passions which take their origin from the body.

Chap. II. Of those Passions which take their origin from a particular turn or habit of the Imagination.

Chap. III. Of the unsocial Passions.

Chap. IV. Of the social Passions.

Chap. V. Of the selfish Passions.

Section III. Of the Effects of Prosperity and Adversity upon the Judgment of Mankind with regard to the Propriety of Action; and why it is more easy to obtain their approbation in the one state than in the other.

Chap. I. That though our sympathy with sorrow is generally a more lively sensation than our sympathy with toy, it commonly falls much more short of the violence of what is naturally felt by the person principally concerned.

Chap. II. Of the origin of Ambition, and of the distinction of Ranks.

Chap. III. Of the corruption of our Moral Sentiments, which is occasioned by this disposition to admire the rich and the great, and to despise or neglect persons of poor and mean condition.