Mandeville and Smith on the Problem of Moral Order

Abstract

After the enormous impact of the Fable of the Bees, Bernard Mandeville’s thesis on the problem of the emergence of moral order in society became a focal point in eighteenth century moral philosophy. Mandeville himself became a commentator of his own thesis in later works, and Adam Smith devoted to him a chapter in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In this work we will analyze both Smith’s and Mandeville’s later commentaries on the Fable about the problem of moral order, comparing how both authors express a rupture between the motives of the individual moral character and the social consequences of its actions.