Born in Logierait, Scotland, to a parish minister, Adam Ferguson was educated first at the local parish school, then at grammar school in Perth, then at St. Andrews (MA 1742), and finally studied divinity at the University of Edinburgh (1743–1745). In Edinburgh he befriended many leading figures in moderate circles, including fellow divinity students Alexander Carlyle (1722–1805), William Robertson (1721–1793), and Hugh Blair (1718–1800) and older members of the Select Society including his close friend, David Hume. In 1745 he cut his studies short, was ordained, and became deputy chaplain (eventually chaplain) preaching in Gaelic to the Highland Black Watch Regiment. He returned to secular nonmilitary life in 1754 and became a mainstay of the Edinburgh intelligentsia, succeeding Hume as the librarian of the Faculty of Advocates (1758–1759), then (also with Hume's assistance) became professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh (1759–1764) and finally professor of pneumatics and moral philosophy (1764–1785).

Ferguson's...