Bernard Mandeville
1670–1733 · British Moral Philosophy · Known
Mandeville made his case in verse in The Fable of the Bees: a hive full of vice prospers, and once its vices are stripped away the hive collapses. Greed, vanity and pride are what make a trading nation rich, and austere virtue would beggar it. He called virtue itself an invention, dreamed up by clever politicians who flattered people's pride until they learned to deny themselves.
Signature
The position Mandeville is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Paradox
- Productive Tension
Positions on the 0 axes the sources answer
20 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Mandeville refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Good and Evil
- Social Invention
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - Knowledge
- Sense Experience
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Egoism
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Hard Determinism
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Time
- Linear Progressive
What is the fundamental shape of time? - Economy
- Market Capitalism
What is the ideal organization of economic life? - Authority
- Custom
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Language
- Conventional
What is the fundamental nature of language? - Paradox
- Productive Tension
What is the status of paradox? - Law
- Legal Positivism / Customary Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Role of Emotion
- Irrational Driver / Adaptive Function
What is the proper role of emotion? - Human Nature
- Irredeemably Corrupted
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- Self
What is your primary bond and loyalty?