The Fable of the Bees
Also known as The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits
Bernard Mandeville's 1714 satire arguing that private vices, not virtue, make a society prosperous.
At a glance
Key ideas
The grumbling hive, Private vices, public benefits, Hypocrisy …
See all 5Reception
Grand Jury of Middlesex, George Berkeley, John Maynard Keynes
See all 3Connections
Bernard Mandeville and Adam Smith
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- The book grew from Mandeville's poem The Grumbling Hive, about a thriving hive of bees that collapses once they turn honest and virtuous.
- Its prose "Remarks" and essays argue that society's wealth is the sum of individual vices such as luxury.
- Those who preach against vice, he says, still enjoy the wealth it creates.
- It was read as an attack on Christian virtue and caused a scandal, above all after the 1723 edition.
Why it matters
- It started a controversy that lasted through the 18th century, influenced ideas on the division of labour and free markets, and shaped Hutcheson, Hume and Adam Smith.
Key facts
- Author
- Bernard Mandeville1
- Published
- 1714, anonymously1
- Origin
- The poem The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves turn'd Honest, published anonymously on 2 Apr 17051
- Second edition
- 1723, adding An Essay on Charity and Charity-Schools and A Search into the Nature of Society1
- Part II
- Six dialogues, published in 17291
- Translations
- French, by Émilie du Châtelet (1740); German (1761)1
- Standard edition
- F. B. Kaye's, Clarendon Press (1924); reprinted by Liberty Fund in 19881
Key ideas
-
The grumbling hive1
A corrupt but prosperous hive asks for virtue, gets it, and loses its prosperity.
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Private vices, public benefits1
Luxury, gambling, even crime keep people employed and the economy going.
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Hypocrisy1
People preach strict virtue while living off the wealth that vice creates.
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"Bare Virtue can't make Nations live"1
The poem ends: a golden age of honesty means living on acorns.
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Against charity schools1
Educating the poor raises their wants without making them more virtuous.
Reception
Connections
Links
Sources
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