Mandeville's economics: social hierarchy insights

 

Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733) was a Dutch-born philosopher, economist, satirist, writer, and physician

Mandeville's economics: social hierarchy insights

Exploring Mandeville's views on consumption, social mobility, and state intervention in eighteenth-century economics

20 MAY 2024, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

The eighteenth century was a time of significant change, where the landed nobility were losing their supremacy to mercantile and capitalist entrepreneurs. However, as Manderville shows in his economic assessment of the conditions that needed to be managed to ensure prosperity and growth, stability meant knowing your place and not levelling up.

 

Vue du Pont de Westminster du Côte du Nord de Londres“ (London, Westminster Bridge); Copperplate print, colorized, printed by B. F. Leizelt, Augsburg, 2nd half of 18th century

The fable of the bees: Mandeville's critique 

Exploring Mandeville's critique of morality, self-love, and societal constructs in 18th-century London

20 APRIL 2024, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Bernard Mandeville was born in Rotterdam in 1670 and qualified as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Leyden. He then settled in London, where he practiced as a physician. The Grumbling Hive, along with An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Value, was published in 1714. Together with remarks and further essays, it made up a much longer work entitled The Fable of the Bees. Mandeville stated he intended to expose the vices of his countrymen and the false pretenses that are made to virtue. For him, the most prominent vices of his fellowman were fraud, luxury, and pride. He claimed lawyers would overbill their clients, doctors would extort fees for conditions they could not cure, the clergy were ignorant and lazy, and the general population indulged in their appetite for luxury.