Enlightenment's Fable PDF
Preview Enlightenment's Fable
Page iii The Enlightenment's Fable Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of Society Ideas in Context Page iv IDEAS IN CONTEXT Edited by QUENTIN SKINNER General Editor Series editors LORRAINE DASTON, WOLF LEPENIES, RICHARD RORTY AND J.B. SCHNEEWIND The books in this series will discuss the emergence of intellectual traditions and of related new disciplines. The procedures, aims and vocabularies that were generated will be set in the context of the alternatives available within the contemporary frameworks of ideas and institutions. Through detailed studies of the evolution of such traditions, and their modification by different audiences, it is hoped that a new picture will form of the development of ideas in their concrete contexts. By this means, artificial distinctions between the history of philosophy, of the various sciences, of society and politics, and of literature may be seen to dissolve. The series is published with the support of the Exxon Foundation A list of books in the series will be found at the end of the volume. Page v The Enlightenment's Fable Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of Society E. G. Hundert Associate Professor of History The University of British Columbia Page vi Text found on this page in the original book is not available for the netLibrary eBook edition. PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY (VIRTUAL PUBLISHING) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 100114211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Victoria 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1994 This edition © Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing) 2001 First published 1994 Reprinted 1996 Printed in Great Britain at Athenæum Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Hundert, E.J. The enlightenment's 'fable': Bernard Mandeville and the discovery of society/E.J. Hundert. p. cm. — (Ideas in context) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0 521 46082 4 1. Mandeville, Bernard, 16701733Contributions in sociology. 2. Mandeville, Bernard, 16701733Contributions in economics. 3. Mandeville, Bernard, 16701733. Fable of the bees. 4. Selfinterest. 5. Economic man. 6. Enlightenment. I. Title. II. Series. HM22.G8M334 1994 9336440 301'.092dc20 CIP ISBN 0 521 46082 4 hardback eISBN 0511005814 virtual (netLibrary Edition) Page vii for Martha Page viii Whenever anyone speaks, without bitterness . . . of man as a belly with two needs and a head with one; when ever anyone sees, seeks and wants to see only hunger, sexual desire, and vanity, as though these were the actual and sole motives of human actions; in brief, whenever anyone speaks ''badly" of man — but does not speak ill of him — the lover of knowledge should listen carefully and with diligence. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil Though words be the signs we have of another's opinions and intentions; yet, because of the equivocation of them is so frequent according to the diversity of contexture, and the company wherewith they go (which the presence of him that speaketh, our sight of his actions and conjecture of his intentions, must help to discharge us of): It must be extremely hard to find out the opinions and meanings of those men that are gone from us long ago, and have left us no other signification thereof but their books; which cannot possibly be understood without history enough to discover those aforementioned circumstances, and also without great prudence to observe them. Hobbes, Human Nature Page ix Contents Acknowledgements page x A Note On the Text xii Introduction and Agenda 1 1 16 The Foundations of a Project Egoism, Politics and Society 18 Dutch Republicans and French Dévots 23 Medicine and Morals 35 Toward a Science of Socialized Man 49 2 62 SelfLove and the Civilizing Process The History of Pride 63 Hutcheson's Polemic and Hume's Critique 75 Rhetoric and the Emergence of Civility 86 The French Connection 96 Rousseau in Mandeville's Shadow 105 3 116 Performance Principles of the Public Sphere Manners, Morals and the Earl of Shaftesbury 117 Bishop Butler and the Pursuit of Happiness 126 Theatrum Mundi 139 Henry Fielding at the Mandevillian Masquerade 153 The Discourse of the Passions at its Limits 168 4 175 A World of Goods From Hypocrisy to Emulation 175 Labor and Luxury 184 Homo Economica and Her Double 205 5 219 Imposing Closure — Adam Smith's Problem Epilogue: The Fable's Modern Fate 237 Bibliography 250 Index 276 Page x Acknowledgements This book would still be unfinished were it not for the generous support of my research by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Particularly important was a Release Time Stipend granted by the Council which permitted me the luxury of devoting an entire academic year to this project. I worked for a period at the Library of Cambridge University where John Dunn, ever a gracious and astute friend, arranged my stay at King's College and was a forbearing host during a most difficult time. While at Cambridge, conversations with Istvan Hont helped me to clarify a number of my ideas. Hayden White and Perez Zagorin have offered consistent encouragement to me over many years and, most importantly, have long served as exemplars of intellectually invigorating scholarship. Dario Castiglione, M.M. Goldsmith, Charles Griswald, Jr., Irwin Primer, John P. Wright and Donald Winch kindly sent offprints or type scripts of their work. Robert Anchor and David Wooton made useful suggestions about the book's organization. Christa Canitz and Wayne Thorpe took time from their own work to offer assistance with a text in German and Dutch, repectively. The staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Library at the University of British Columbia cheerfully and efficiently dealt with my many requests. Mark Glouberman, Harvey Mitchell, Roger Seamon and Kay Stockholder discussed all phases of the project with me, listened thoughtfully to my concerns, and read drafts of the entire manuscript. I am most grateful for the critical intelligence each brought to bear upon my writing. Most of all, I am indebted to my wife, Carol Gibson, for her encouragement, support, toleration of a near obsession and, above all, for the companionship without which this book would seem no more than a trifle. The last section of Chapter 2 has appeared in abbreviated form as Page xi ''The Thread of Language and the Web of Dominion: Mandeville to Rousseau and Back," EighteenthCentury Studies 21, 2 (1987/8), pp. 169–191, as has the fourth section of Chapter 3, as "Performing the Enlightenment Self: Henry Fielding and the History of Identity," in Bonnelyn Kunze and Dwight Braughtigan (eds.), Court, Country and Culture: Festschrifi for Perez Zagorin (University of Rochester Press, 1992), pp. 223–244.
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