The Fable of the Bees and Other Writings (Hackett Classics)

An excellent introduction to the ideas of Bernard Mandeville, whom Kant compared to Epicurus and Montaigne.When people talk about Adam Smith's supposed ideological justifications for free market capitalism, they are really referring to Mandeville. (Smith actually criticizes Mandeville in "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," and excludes him completely from "The Wealth of Nations.") It was Mandeville's acceptance of human society the way it actually exists in reality, with all of its vices as well as virtues, rather than the airy, optimistic philosophy of Smith and his allies, that seemed so revolutionary in the 1700s. Theologians and aristocrats were outraged, but thinkers like Hume, Rousseau, and Kant took Mandeville seriously and argued pro and con with his ideas. We should too.Mandeville's poem "The Fable of the Bees" is admittedly eccentric, but his commentaries on the poem are the meat of the matter. In them, he expands on Hobbesian themes on "self-love" (what we call "egoism") as the primal operating factor in man's actions, and we should accept that rather than condemn it as unnatural, "sinful," or destructive, like the theologians did. They hated him, explains E.J. Hundert in his superb introduction here, because of "the truth he claimed to have discovered: that the conditions of commercial modernity had made the Christian saint, the classical citizen and the noble warrior anachronistic mental deposits of long vanished or quickly eroding social formations." The times were changing in the 1720s, and Mandeville became, briefly, one of the leading voices of this change.After you read this, and decide you need more, then you can step up to the much more intimidating and massive two-volume "Fable of the Bees" edited by F.B. Kaye, first published in 1924, and available as a cheap paperback reprint from the Liberty Fund Press.

A little backgroundBernard Mandeville was a practicing physician in Early Modern Europe who, towards his later years, spent much of his time composing political philosophy and satire. In fact, the two genres were almost always intertwined. When published, Mandeville's 'Fable of the Bees' created a large stir throughout English society and the work was largely criticized for the views it put forth. However, at the same time, it was this same critical popularity that turned this doctor into a best-selling author. Sweet irony, eh?The workI have to admit that at first sight, I thought this work to be a bit too silly and not very substantial. This edited version begins with Mandeville's 'Grumbling Hive', a poem that really cannot be considered one of the great pieces of 18th century satire. If that's what you want, I suggest that you check out Jonathan Swift's writings or Montesquieu's 'Persian Letters.'Instead, it is his essays and 'dialogues' within the Fable of the Bees which are of greater importance and far more interesting to read. Much of the political work is devoted to grounding various human sentiments, virtues, and behaviors within human egoism and self-interest. That is, he wishes to illustrate how much of what we consider virtuous within human beings or civil societies is, on the contrary, based upon pride and self-interest. Particularly interesting is Mandeville's account of social development. He, like many early modern european theorists, has a tale of the state-of-nature and the rise of political society. In it, he argues that reason, the arts, sciences, language, and other skills are not natural human characteristics. Instead, they developed over time through man's interactions with the outside world and man's interaction with other men. Indeed, Mandeville's views seem to be very close to that of Adam Smith, on the one hand, and Rousseau, on the other. It's quite bizarre. That is, at least, my interpretation.While Mandeville has primarily been read in English classes as a piece of satire, it is only recently that greater attention has been given to his political philosophy. Whereas a good amount of time is spent studying Hobbes, Locke, Adam Smith and Rousseau, among others, there is usually little time to get to Mandeville.As such, I definately recommend this to anyone who wishes to learn more about the political philosophy of early modern europe and the enlightenment. However, I doubt it will be of interest to many others. If you wish to learn more about Mandeville, there are some great secondary texts. However, Hundert (the editor) provides a great introduction and overview himself in this abridged version of the Fable of the Bees.

The Fable is simply superb. Rather like Machiavelli's "Prince" may have been 'warning' of political skuldugery, I suspect that BM was warning his contemporaries of issues in the 'economics' of the time. Written not long after the South Sea Bubble, he veils his criticism of what was wrong in the early 18th century by creating a 'fable'. Much of his criticism is still appropriate in modern politics and economics. George Osborne and Merkel ought to be reading this NOW. This would be good advice for all finance ministers in the EU - or North America following the crash of 2008. Do we never learn? I suspect not!