Bernard Mandeville

E. J. Hundert

Although never censored, Bernard Mandeville's anonymously published The Fable of the Bees; or Private Vices, Public Benefits came to be regarded soon after its publication in 1723 as the Enlightenment's epitome of immorality. As a naturalistic account of the mechanisms that condition human desire and of the unintended stabilizing social consequences of self-interested action, it has since been recognized as one the eighteenth century's most significant works of social theory. More sharply focused on Mandeville's social theory than any previous collection of his writings, this abridged and modernized edition includes the most pertinent sections of The Fable, a selection from Mandeville's An Enquiry into the Origin of Honor, and essential background reading from two of Mandeville's most important sources: Pierre Bayle and the Jansenist Pierre Nicole. E. J. Hundert's Introduction places Mandeville in a number of central eighteenth-century debates - particularly that of the nature and morality of commercial modernity - and underscores the degree to which Mandeville's reconception of egoism as a positive social force stood as a central problem, not only for his immediate English contemporaries, but for such philosophers as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant.

The Fable of the Bees and Other Writings

The Fable of the Bees or Private Vices, Publick Benefits, Volume Two

Or Private Vices, Publick Benefits, Volume One

The Fable of the Bees

Laws and government are to the political bodies of civil societies, what the vital spirits and life itself are to the natural bodies of animated creatures; and as those that study the anatomy of dead carcases may see, that the chief organs and nicest springs more immediately required to continue the motion of our machine, are not hard bones, strong muscles and nerves, nor the smooth white skin, that so beautifully covers them, but small trifling films, and little pipes, that are either overlooked or else seem inconsiderable to vulgar eyes; so they that examine into the nature of man, abstract from art and education, may observe, that what renders him a sociable animal, consists not in his desire of company, good nature, pity, affability, and other graces of a fair outside; but that his vilest and most hateful qualities are the most necessary accomplishments to fit him for the largest, and, according to the world, the happiest and most flourishing societies.

The Fable of The Bees is a tale by Bernard Mandeville. A bee society forsakes their need for personal reward and go on to live straightforward, "righteous" lives in a hollow tree. A fable that inspired ideas about the division of labor and the value of the free market.

The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits

Excerpt from The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices Public Benefits: With an Essay on Charity and Charity Schools, and a Search Into the Nature of Society Thus much I had faid to the reader in the firft edition; and have added nothing. By way of preface in the fecond. Butdince that, a violent outcry has been made againl't the book, exactly anfwering the expeetation I always had of the juttice, the wifdom, the charity, and fair-dailing of thofe whole good will I defpaired of. It has been prefented by the Grand Jury, and condemned by thoufands who never faw a word of it. It has been preached againit before my Lord Mayor; and an utter refutation of it is daily expeeted from areverend divine, who has called me names in the advertife ments, and threatened to anfwer me in two months time for above five months together. What I have to fay for my felf, the reader will fee in my Vindication at the end of the book, where he will likewife find the Grand Jury's Prefent ment, and a letter to the Right Honourable Lord C. Which is very rhetorical beyond argument or conneelion. The eu thor (hows a fine talent for 111vetftives, and great fagacity in dil'covering atheifm, where others can find none. He is zeal ous againlt wicked books, points at the Fable of the Bees, and is very angry with the author: He bell 0115 four drong epithets on the enormity of his guilt, and by le1eral elegant inuendos to the multitude, as the danger there IS in fulle1ing fuch authors to live, and the vengeance of Heaven upon a whole nation, very charitably recommends him to the1r care. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

With an Essay on Charity and Charity Schools, and a Search Into the Nature of Society (Classic Reprint)

The Fable of the Bees, Or Private Vices Public Benefits

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "An Enquiry into an Origin of Honour; and the Usefulness of Christianity in War" by Bernard Mandeville. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

An Enquiry into an Origin of Honour; and the Usefulness of Christianity in War

A Letter to Dion, Occasion'd by His Book Call'd Alciphron, Or the Minute Philosopher. By the Author of the Fable of the Bees

Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits

Or, the Wars Between the Gods and Giants: a Burlesque Poem in Imitation of the Comical Mons. Scarron

Typhon

The Virgin Unmasked, Or, Female Dialogues, Betwixt an Elderly Maiden Lady, and Her Niece, on Several Diverting Discourses on Love, Marriage, Memoirs and Morals, Etc. of All Times

On Several Diverting Discourses on Love, Marriage, Memoirs, and Morals, Etc. of the Times

The Virgin Unmask'd; Or, Female Dialogues Betwixt an Elderly Maiden Lady, and Her Niece

The Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits: With an Essay on Charity and Charity-Schools

"Among the masterworks of Augustan England few can be said to anticipate our dilemmas of individual, social, economic and political morality more ably than Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the Bees. Much misunderstood by his Augustan contemporaries, many of whom declared his book pernicious, Mandeville turned his physician's eye upon his society's health, and found that it thrived everywhere upon individual corruptions. His analyses of the role of social ideals and personal impulses in human motivation are as stimulating today as they were in his time, and those who believe that the political morality of Machiavelli is still alive today cannot ignore the pungent social criticism of Mandeville, his kindred spirit"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

The fable of the bees. Pt. II. Appendixes: Mandevilles̕ family (with genealogical table) Description of the editions. Criticisms of the fable. A list, chronologically arranged, of references to Mandevilles̕ works. Index to commentary

With, An Essay on Charity and Charity-schools; and A Search Into the Nature of Society

A Modest Defence of Public Stews

T[he] Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits. In Two Volumes. With an Essay on Charity and Charity-schools: and a Search Into the Nature of Society. To which is Added, a Vindication of the Book from the Aspersions Contained in a Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex, and an Abusive Letter to the Lord C-.

The Fable of the Bees, Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits ; With, An Essay on Charity and Charity-schools ; And, A Search Into the Nature of Society

The Fable of the Bees:

Bernard Mandeville

About

Books

Join the club