Andrew Ferguson was born in 1723 in Scotland. He was an historian and philosopher of the Scottish "common sense" school, l which was a forerunner of t modern sociology. Ferguson was a clergyman and then a librarian and finally a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. An Essay on the History of Civil Society was a concise history tracing humanity from barbaric times to modern society. Ferguson believed that society was the basis for human morals and deeds. He traces the social and political refinement of man and the cultural influences on society.