Bernard de Mandeville
born November 1670, Rotterdam, Neth.
died Jan. 21, 1733, Hackney, London, Eng.
Dutch prose writer and philosopher who won
European fame with The Fable of the Bees.
Mandeville graduated in medicine from the
University of Leiden in March 1691 and started
to practice but very soon went abroad. Arriving
in England to learn the language, he “found the
Country and the Manners of it agreeable” and
settled in London. In 1699 he married an
Englishwoman, with whom he had two children. His
professional reputation in London was soon
established, and he attracted the friendship and
patronage of important persons.
Mandeville’s first works in English were
burlesque paraphrases from the 17th-century
French poet Jean de La Fontaine and the
17th-century French writer Paul Scarron.
The 1714 edition of Mandeville’s most
important work, The Fable of the Bees, was
subtitled Private Vices, Publick Benefits and
consisted of a preface, the text of The
Grumbling Hive, an “Enquiry into the Origin of
Moral Virtue,” and “Remarks” on the poem. The
1723 edition included an examination of “The
Nature of Society” and provoked a long
controversy. The 1729 edition remodeled the
entire argument to suit Mandeville’s
philosophical commitment but nevertheless
retained something of the original purpose of
diverting readers.
Mandeville’s argument in The Fable, a
paradoxical defense of the usefulness of
“vices,” is based on his definition of all
actions as equally vicious in that they are all
motivated by self-interest. Yet while the
motives must be vicious, the results of action
are often socially beneficial, since they
produce the wealth and comforts of civilization.
