Private vices, public benefits : Bernard Mandeville's social and political thought
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Private vices, public benefits : Bernard Mandeville's social and political thought
(Ideas in context / edited by Quentin Skinner (general editor) ... [et al.])
Cambridge University Press, 1985
Available at 53 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 165-178
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book examines the social and political thought of Bernard Mandeville, whose works, although notorious, had a significant impact on such thinkers as Voltaire, Hume, and Adam Smith. Professor Goldsmith sets out to show how Mandeville's views resulted from his rejection of the ideology of his time, which subordinated private interests to the claims of society or God. Instead, Mandeville proposed self-love as the mechanism of social development and attributed civilisation and the amenities of life to selfishness. Although he did not develop a theory of the free market, his views, by exalting 'private vices' and ridiculing the classical and aristocratic virtues, legitimated the pursuit of gain and the 'spirit of capitalism'.
by "Nielsen BookData"