"He can hardly be called a "moralist;" and though it is impossible to deny him a considerable share of philosophical penetration, his anti-moral paradoxes have not even apparent coherence. He is convinced that virtue (where it is more than a mere pretence) is purely artificial; but he is not quite certain whether it is a useless trammel of appetites and passions that are advantageous to society, or a device creditable to the politicians who introduced it by playing upon the "pride and vanity" of the "silly creature man." The view, however, to which he gave eccentric expression, that moral regulation is something alien to the natural man and imposed on him from without, seems to have been very current in the polite society of his time, as we learn both from Berkeley's Alciphron and from Butler's more famous sermons."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Poets from EnglandPhilosophers from EnglandEconomists from EnglandPhilosophers from the NetherlandsPeople from Rotterdam
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Henry Sidgwick, Outlines of the History of Ethics for English Readers (1886), pp. 187-188
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Mandeville
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Bernard Mandeville
1670 – 1733
niederländischer Arzt und Sozialtheoretiker
62 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Bernard Mandeville →
Related Quotes
"Then leave Complaints: Fools only strive To make a Great an Honest Hive. T'enjoy the World's Conveniences, Be fam'd i…"
"They that examine into the Nature of Man, abstract from Art and Education, may observe, that what renders him a Socia…"
"If laying aside all worldly Greatness and Vain-Glory, I should be ask'd where I thought it was most probable that Men…"
"Vast Numbers throng'd the fruitful Hive; Yet those vast Numbers made 'em thrive; Millions endeavouring to supply Each…"
"They put off hearings wilfully, To finger the refreshing fee."
"Thus every Part was full of Vice, Yet the whole Mass a Paradise; Flatter'd in Peace, and fear'd in Wars, They were th…"
"The worst of all the Multitude Did something for the Common Good."
"Luxury Employ'd a Million of the Poor, And odious Pride a Million more; Envy it self, and Vanity, Were Ministers of I…"
"Thus Vice nurs'd Ingenuity, Which join'd with Time and Industry, Had carry'd Life's Conveniences, It's real Pleasures…"
"So Vice is beneficial found, When it's by Justice lopt and bound; Nay, where the People would be great, As necessary …"