Loading...
Journal Title
Readers/Advisors
Journal Title
Term and Year
Publication Date
2019-05
Book Title
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Publication Begin
Publication End
Number of pages
Files
Loading...
Brydges_Honors.pdf
Adobe PDF, 287.33 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Bernard Mandeville stood in dire opposition to the 18th century Augustinian moral
tradition with his work The Fable of the Bees in which he argued that private vices can be public
benefits. In response to his paradox, many of his contemporaries responded with resistance and
criticism. In my thesis I respond to two such criticisms; one is by George Berkeley, and the other
is by Francis Hutcheson. Each of their critiques represents a large body of other criticisms of
Mandeville, and I defend Mandeville’s writing against both these responses on account of their
misunderstandings of his work. Both of these criticisms attempt to evade the ultimatum
Mandeville implicitly puts forth in his poem: embrace a rigorous standard of virtue at the cost of
industry or abandon virtue in pursuit of economic prosperity. I attempt to reconcile the
ultimatum with a Mandevillean reframing of virtue. This conception rejects the rigorous standard
of virtue insofar as it does not require complete and total self-denial as a prerequisite for virtue;
virtuous actions in this conception can have a self-regarding element. Through this reframed
understanding, society can maintain virtuous conduct and economic prosperity.
Citation
DOI
Description
Accessibility Statement
If this SOAR repository item is not accessible to you (e.g. able to be used in the context of a disability), please email libraryaccessibility@newpaltz.edu