MANDEVILLE, BERNARD de. - Writer, b. in Dordrecht ca. 1670, d. in London on 21 Jan. 1733.
A biting and acid writer (among his works: The Virgin unmask'd, London 1709; Free thoughts on religion, ibid. 1720), he owes his fame to The fable of bees (ibid. 1714 and following reworkings), in which he set forth the utilitarianism of vice in social life: according to M. "human societies would arrive at harmony and equilibrium not because they are composed of individuals full of altruism and all yearning for solidarity, but because they are composed of perfect egoists in continuous struggle, compelled by mutual opposition and by the violence of others' passions to accept compromise solutions, which would respect to the maximum their own and others' interest. (A. Fanfani, Storia delle dottrine economiche. Il naturalismo, Milan 1946, p. 12). However, as Grégoire has noted, his cynicism comes to conceal the actual conservatism of a counselor and inspirer of monarchs.
Bibliography4 worksF. B. Kaye, The Table of the bees, 2 vols., Oxford 1924; W. Deckelmann, Untersuchungen zur Bienenfabel M.s., Hamburg 1933; W. Stühler, s. v.
BIBL.: F. B. Kaye, The Table of the bees, 2 vols., Oxford 1924; W. Deckelmann, Untersuchungen zur Bienenfabel M.s., Hamburg 1933; W. Stühler, s. v. in Stoatvlex, III, coll. 1143-47; F. Grégoire, B. de M. et la « Fable des abeilles », Nancy 1947.
Petrocchi, Massimo. “Mandeville, bernard de.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, coll. 1948–1949. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/mandeville-bernard-de.
MLA
Petrocchi, Massimo. “Mandeville, bernard de.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 1948–1949. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/mandeville-bernard-de.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_mandeville_bernard_de,
author = {Petrocchi, Massimo},
title = {Mandeville, bernard de},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1948--1949},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mandeville-bernard-de}
}
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