Vol. 10 No. 3 (2022): Dossier "Bernard Mandeville"
This issue of the Revista de Filosofia Moderna e Contemporânea marks an important step in the development of the studies on Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) in Brazil, as it is the first collection of papers dedicated exclusively to this author. While there is an abundance of literature on English philosophers of the 18th-century, there is still a paucity of written material on the thought of the Dutch physician and satirist. Similarly, Mandeville was an author whose ideas have often been overshadowed by his more famous and influential contemporaries, whether in literature, political commentary, or philosophy, such as Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Anthony Ashley-Cooper the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, George Berkeley, Alexander Pope, and Francis Hutcheson. It is evident that their works were more widely recognized and acclaimed within the intellectual circles and public opinion of their time than Mandeville's. Nevertheless, his seminal works, especially his masterpiece The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Public Benefits (1714), challenged conventional notions of morality and society and sparked controversies that reverberated far beyond his time, providing a provocative stimulus to various debates.
Published:
2024-05-22
