Penguin Books The Fable of the Bees 蜜蜂的寓言

“The poem sets forth the appalling plight of a prosperous community in which all the citizens suddenly take it into their heads to abandon luxurious living, and the State to cut down armaments, in the interests of Saving.” — John Maynard Keynes

 

The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits is a book by the Anglo-Dutch social philosopher Bernard Mandeville. This distinguished work of eighteenth-century British satire ignited significant social controversy by rejecting a positive view of human nature and arguing that vice is essential for the foundation of an emerging capitalist economy. His influence extended to Scottish Enlightenment thinkers like Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, and Adam Smith.

 

In The Grumbling Hive, Mandeville describes a bee community that thrives until the bees choose to live according to honesty and virtue. As they abandon their desire for personal gain, the economy of their hive collapses, and they end up living simple, "virtuous" lives in a hollow tree. Mandeville's implication—that private vices can lead to public benefits—sparked a scandal when the public attention turned to this work, particularly after its 1723 edition.

 

Mandeville's thesis reveals that contemporary society is composed of self-interested individuals who are bound to one another not by shared civic commitments or moral integrity, but paradoxically by the fragile bonds of envy, competition, and exploitation. He suggested that people are hypocrites for advocating strong ideas about virtue and vice while failing to act according to those beliefs in their personal lives.

 

By observing that those who preach against vice often benefit from it through the overall wealth of society—wealth that Mandeville believed resulted from individual vices such as luxury, gambling, and crime, which served lawyers and the justice system—he challenged the popular notion of virtue, which equated moral excellence with unselfish, Christian behavior. This challenge sparked controversy that persisted throughout the eighteenth century and influenced thinkers in moral philosophy and economics.

 

In recent years, philosophers have extended Mandeville's concepts of virtue and vice from ethics to epistemology. They argue that what might appear to be intellectual vices in individuals can actually contribute positively to group inquiry. Mandeville’s work has influenced ideas about the division of labor and the free market (laissez-faire), and it also helped advance the philosophy of utilitarianism. In their efforts to defend their views on virtue, Mandeville’s critics modified those views, leading to significant philosophical developments.

 

Features

• Edition : -
• Binding : Paperback
• ISBN : 9780140445411
• Publication Date : 1989/9/5

 

Materials & Care

• Imported