[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...

REIMAGINING INDIA
yet another Scot and identified with the
Scottish Enlightenment, was articulate
on the issue. In his An Essay on the History
of Civil Society (1767), Fergusson
wrote that, ‘It has been found, that, except
in a few singular cases, the commercial
and political arts have advanced
together.’ 5 Fergusson maintained that
the incidence of commerce was quiet
engaged with the ways of nations and
pointed out that, ‘In some nations the
spirit of commerce, intent on securing
its profits, has led the way to political
wisdom’. 6 The point that was being made
by Fergusson was received well and the
text of the Essay on the History of Civil
Society ‘found many enthusiastic readers
in London, where it went through
seven editions in Fergusson’s lifetime.’ 7
It was an endorsement of the general acceptance
of these thoughts and explanations
about the working of the economy.
The schools of German Philosophy
tors who debated on a host of areas that
were at once connected with the enquiries
that Smith and Fergusson were working
on. The transition was clearly visible
and so much so that until the seventeenth
century, the term economy did
not quiet signify much and that university
chairs were set up for studies in ethics
and not that for economics. Smith
himself was appointed as a professor of
moral philosophy in 1752 and published
The Theory of the Moral Sentiments in
1759, years earlier to The Wealth of Nations
which was published in 1776. The
transition was notable enough and
It was reasoned that if the interests of these contending
actors (Commercial class and State) were so intense, the
resultant interactions could well be inimical to either of
them and could therefore be a source of stress in the
society. Hence, came the idea of civil society
would also remain indebted to Fergusson
for the term civil society, a term that
would also be used here in connection
with the market and the State.
The contributions of Smith and Fergusson
were important. They helped
recognize the reasons for commerce and
further enabled recognition of an additional
two domains that were relevant to
matters of manufactories and commerce.
These were those of markets and that of
States. There were many more contribu-
Watson points out that when Smith died
‘after a life of intellectual adventure and
social prudence’, a local newspaper complained
in its obituary (4 August 1790)
that he had ‘converted his chair of moral
philosophy at Glasgow University into
one of trade and finance’.’ 8 And while
earlier in Britain ‘men argued that human
nature rather than the state should
govern economics’, matters changed
course and the role of the state became
clearer so much so that, ‘We should not
forget that state intervention in the
eighteenth century was very important
to economic development and Smith
never disagreed with this.’ 9 The debates
initiated by thinkers such as Smith and
Fergusson, among the many others, had
initiated major long term changes. And
if the stage was set for expansion of commercial
trade and manufactories, their
momentum was quiet clearly induced by
debates that took place during these periods.
Changes during the next period of
the nineteenth century and those thereafter
are testimony to the expansion that
had been achieved by these nations.
The Third Actor – Inclusion Of
The Civil Society As Part Of
The Triad
The growth of these economies brought
into sharp focus a number of developments
that claimed for attention. The
rise of the commercial class with its
members quiet clearly interested in their
private interests and that of the State
could expectedly raise the requirements
of boundaries determining their spheres
of operation. It was reasoned that if the
interests of these contending actors were
so intense, as it appeared to be, the resultant
interactions could well be inimical
to either of them and could therefore
be a source of stress in the society. It is
as an outcome of this concern that the
idea of civil society came to be articulated.
If the term civil society has been
an old one, it is with John Locke (1632-
1704), the Scottish Enlightenment
group, and Georg Hegel (1770-1831) that
the term came to be positioned more
firmly and done so in the contextual format
that includes the State and the market.
Seligman observes that ‘what stood
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