Functional socialism

Ii4 FUNCTIONAL SOCIALISM

PRIVATE VICES PUBLIC BENEFITS

We might perhaps diverge at this point to note one of the curiosities of economic history, of special interest to those who now stress the advent of the age of plenty. Not only was their general theory of leisure anticipated in the early days of the eighteenth century, but Adam Smith was himself definitely influenced. It isa queer story. In 1714, a doctor named Bernard de Mandeville published a poem under the title of The Fable of the Bees: or Private Vices Public Benefits. ‘The main theme was that civilization is the outcome, not of the virtues of mankind, but of the vices; that the desire for wellbeing, comfort, luxury, and the pleasures of life arises from our natural wants. It is an apo/ogia for the natural man and a criticism of the virtuous. The book created a sensation and was seized by order of the French Government, which apparently was composed of virtuous rather than natural men. Obviously a dangerous book if read by the hoz pollot. Nevertheless, Smith was greatly impressed and devoted considerable space to de Mandeville in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He reproaches de Mandeville, not for his arguments, but his definitions: denies that tastes and desires are vices: sees nothing blameworthy in such things. In the course of time, Smith, perhaps unconsciously, adopts de Mandeville’s main contention. It is personal interest, not a vice if an inferior virtue, that leads society to wellbeing and prosperity. A nation’s wealth, says Adam