This view brought notoriety to Mandeville and fre-
quent condemnation of his arguments and opinions by
leading philosophers and theorists of his time.
Mandeville’s most famous work is The Fable of the
Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits.This combined
the poem “The Grumbling Hive: Or, Knaves Turned
Honest,” originally composed 24 years earlier, and a
number of essays defending and expanding on his
opinions. The topics covered in the work include the
origin of moral virtue, economics, and education.
The central idea is that for a nation to attain great-
ness, it must first promote and encourage a particular
form of economic activity. In particular, it must en-
courage the vices of greed, desire, and deceit. Greed
and desire are required because the consumption of
luxuries created employment and trade, and this in
turn created a wealthy nation. Deceit is required
because the nature of a successful economic transac-
tion in an unregulated market required buyers and
sellers to withhold information from each other.
Mandeville backed up his claims by showing how fri-
volous fashions created employment, more economic
activity, and ultimately wealth. He joined this analy-
sis to a deflationary account of the moral virtues. He
pointed out the contradiction in the views of those
moralists who wanted both national greatness and a
citizenship of morally exemplary people. In The Fable
of the Beeshe has the bees, which had previously en-
joyed prosperity and greatness, turned into virtuous
bees, and consequently their society declines into
poverty. Prosperity and moral virtue are therefore in-
compatible. It was this paradox that most scandalized
his interlocutors. The function of morality, for Man-
deville, is to encourage and reward people’s sacrifices
by flatteringthem and provoking feelings of admira-
tion and satisfaction.
Mandeville also held progressive views on the sta-
tus of women that were published, for example, in The
Virgin Unmask’d.He argued for the equality of women
with men and against marriage.
Mandeville’s arguments and opinions were influen-
tial and widely known among the intellectuals of his
time. His work received comment from the leading
minds of the 18th century including Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, David Hume, and the economist Adam
Smith.
Mandeville was born in Holland, where he studied
medicine. He moved to England as a young man and
practiced medicine while writing both on medical and
political issues.
Further Reading
Goldsmith, M. Private V ices, Public Benefits: Bernard Mandeville’s
Social and Political Thought.Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge
University Press, 1985.Manifest Destiny
An idea developed in 19th-century America that the
United States had a God-given, providential destiny to
occupy the entire North American continent. This
CHRISTIANdestiny was “manifest,” or realized, by the
Westward migration of Americans, the annexation of
Texas from Mexico, the successful military campaigns
against the Indians (Native Americans), the missionary
activity of Christian ministers, and eventually the con-
trol of the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-
American War. First cited in 1845 in The United States
Magazine,the idea of Manifest Destiny justified U.S.
territorial expansion. Though later criticized as IMPERI-
ALISM, the principle held that the FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY,
and religion of the United States was ordained of God
to spread to and liberate other peoples. The acceptance
of U.S. “aggression” by many inhabitants of other
dominions (as in the Louisiana Territory and Califor-
nia) seemed to confirm the accuracy of the doctrine.
Although used at times to rationalize military conquest
of areas and peoples, Manifest Destiny reflects the
moral and political culture of the United States, its
civil religion of bringing U.S. values of freedom and
RIGHTSto oppressed peoples and the righteousness of
that cause. Its continuing relevance was revealed in the
presidencies of Jimmy CARTER and Ronald REAGAN,
which strove to extend U.S. notions of economic
development, religious freedom, representative democ-
racy, and individual rights to all countries in the
world. The LEFTIST, MARXIST-LENINIST, MULTICULTURAL,
and POLITICALLY CORRECT rejection of this idea of a
providential view of the United States claims it is
naked, hypocritical imperialism and domination.
The term Manifest Destinyis not now used often
because of these negative (imperialist) connotations,
but its theme of a unique U.S. destiny or divine “call-
ing” continues in other ways in U.S. political culture.Further Readings
Horsman, Reginald. Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of
American Racial Anglo-Saxonism.Cambridge, Mass.: Har-
vard University Press, 1981.
Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War, 1840–1861,
compiled by Don E. Fehrenbacher. New York: Meredith
Corporation, 1970.198 Manifest Destiny