Analysis Of A Hive Of Bees By Bernard Mandeville

Superior Essays
Eugene Heath, a Professor of Philosophy at State University of New York, reviews the historical development of famous intellectual’s and society’s perception of the relationship between commerce and virtues. Heath introduces his argument by first defining a market and all the aspects and activities associated with it. In Heath’s argument, it’s important to establish this definition in order to analyze and determine how morals relate and function within a market. Next, he asserts that morals have influence on commerce, or decisions, and our assessment of commerce. From this assertion, he presents two rivaling claims which state that markets presuppose certain moral qualities which may or may not be morally permissible. Features of the market …show more content…
Here Heath focuses the majority of his argument analyzing Mandeville’s famous poem. In the poem a hive of bees, which serves as a metaphor for society, all act of self-interest which results in a large and prosperous commercial society. Mandeville’s fundamental argument is that trade not only benefits the individuals involved but the public as well. He goes on to say that commerce provides the conditions necessary to seek and realize improvements due to intense competition. Mandeville argues that it’s the role of law to regulate individuals’ vices that negatively affect the lives of others. In Mandeville’s view, law defines property rights and restricts extreme vice which allows for voluntary exchange. Additionally, Mandeville claims that a society of individuals who act out of self-interest may generate unintended benefits to society such as employment or technological advances. Therefore, Mandeville is able to justify vice as long as the benefits generated by them outweigh the costs. He also asserts that exchange isn’t a zero-sum game as previously believed but mutually beneficial and a positive-sum game. Despite Mandeville being perceived as an advocate for egoism and an enemy of morals, his beliefs were revolutionary in that it depicted a positive perception of commerce and exchange without ignoring the negative aspects of it. Mandeville’s ideas are reflected in today’s society, specifically the role of law and how government and institutions have formed to regulate the self-interest of individuals while still creating a prosperous

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    William T. Cavanaugh, who is a senior research professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology and also a professor at DePaul University, presents both general readers aswell as specialists with some truly interesting views on subjects like free market, consumerism, economics, globalization and scarcity, and he accomplishes this by looking at it from a Biblical perspective. William T. Cavanaugh doesn’t just point out all that is wrong in our world today regarding these subjects, but he also suggests alternatives to the ways in which our world deals with these matters. In his introduction, William T. Cavanaugh lays out rather nicely what he intends to accomplish through his writings and poses us with some interesting…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    ETHC-445 Principles of Ethics Final Exam http://uphomework.com/downloads/ethc-445-principles-ethics-final-exam/ 1. (TCOs 2, 4, 5, 6) The idea that the assisted suicide of terminally ill patients should be allowed simply at the patient’s direction reflects what type of ethics? (Points : 5) Hobbes’ State of Nature…

    • 1824 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maxim Martin Mr. Hickey C Block/ 3rd Period 8/22/14 The Secret Life of Bees Reader Responses 1. PROTAGONIST “As I stepped inside my room, he stopped inside the doorway. ‘I have to go settle the payroll for the pickers,’ he said.…

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In “Narrative of Commercial Life,” T. H. Breen explores economic and cultural changes in eighteenth century British North America that came about after the French and Indian War. Breen argues that those changes informed colonial protest movements, most notably nonimportation agreements, and that those “specific styles of resistance” caused colonists to unite and “...to reimagine themselves within an independent commercial empire” (Breen 472). Staughton Lynd and David Waldstreicher’s article “Free Trade, Sovereignty, and Slavery” begins with a discussion of how both modern historians and early Americans have viewed the causes and ideology of the American Revolution. Lynd and Waldstreicher claim that the main contentions are whether the Americans…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, demonstrates the primary character flourish throughout the novel and face realities in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement. A fourteen-year-old girl named Lily Owens born on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina, lives with an abusive father, T. Ray. When Lily’s mother died, her black nanny, Rosaleen, took on the role as her fill in mother. On Rosaleen’s way to obtain her voters card she is sentenced to imprisonment. After T. Ray had mentioned information about Lily’s mother, Deborah.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "The Case of the Poor Man's Bees" In “The Case of the Poor Man’s Bees,” a rich man (John) and a poor beekeeper (myself) are neighbors having adjacent gardens. John argues that my bees are harming his flowers while they are feeding on them. He does not see the bees as a source of pollination and a beneficial source for his plants. As a result of, he asked me to move my bees so that they would stop feeding on his flowers. I insisted that the bees were simply pollinating the flowers and therefore, refused to move them.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Area’s in the United States such as cities in South Carolina in the 1960’s during a time as the Civil Rights Movement had such an impact on some people and it being such a hard time with racism and lots of prejudice situations. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd shows Lily’s coming of age and how she grows up with all of the experiences she is faced with. Lily Owens had lived in Sylvan, South Carolina with her Father T Ray and caretaker Rosaleen. Lily’s upbringing was troubled her father had verbally and physically abused her he didn’t exactly know how to raise a teenage girl. Her mother Deborah Owens had passed away to a tragic accident, accidentally caused by Lily ten years prior to the setting in the novel.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd opens with a fourteen year old white girl, Lily Owens. She lives in Sylvan, South Carolina with her abusive father T. Ray and her housemaid, Rosaleen. Lily was only four years old when her mother died. She heard that it was because of her as well, and this is the only memory she has of her. The only physical items from her mother she had were a pair of gloves and a picture of a black Mary.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The honeybees with which Americans are most familiar are European honeybees that began arriving in the New World with the Spanish explorers. In the centuries since, honeybees from the Old World comprised virtually all of the bees kept for pollination and honey production. In the 1950s, a research scientist in Brazil imported some bees from Africa to breed with European honeybees. African bees displayed greater resistance to disease and produced more honey than their European cousins.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the course of the novel, there is a major change in the way that Lily perceives her parents. For example, in the start of the story, Lily believes it is her fault for her mothers death, and such, she cannot really hate her mother. She maintains a close bond with her mother through the small box of artifacts she keeps hidden within her room. On the other hand, Lily does not care for T. Ray at all. She abhors the way that she treats her, and never gets any emotional support from T. Ray.…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This week’s lecture defines virtues as a stable character traits that enable human beings to cooperate and flourish in communities of people with similar traits. If Gillian forgoes the virtues of trustworthiness and honesty than she can no longer uphold her excellence of character, and as a result will have sacrificed her identity. By planning to purchase 50,000 put options in GPE stock to fund a Master’s Degree and pursuit of a better career, Gillian is also then demonstrating Solomon’s business vice of greed. This vice of greed will be explored further in the form of Gillian’s ethical…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Stuart Mill's straight line philosophy known as utilitarianism establishes order and preserves community. In short, the opportunity to ponder upon these diverse philosophies presents an abundance of ideas this composition does not have time…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He expressed to his readers what can happen when non-regulated items enter into the world of economics and market economies, such as the killing of endangered rhinos and walruses and the ability to buy an “immigration pass”. After each section, it was easy to understand what stance the author took for each specific good or service. The focus on fairness and corruption allowed the readers to dive deeper into each topic and look at it through a different lenses then how it would have been viewed originally. The author did a great job at connecting the similarities between the market and how corruption and fairness fits perfectly into it. Overall, it is evident that the growing imperialism that is spreading throughout the market is creating a larger sense of unfairness towards the poor and impoverish, as well as corruption within goods and services that were once valued.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Honeybees Research Paper

    • 1504 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Extensions of the Honey Bees Honeybees help produce 35% of all food in the world and have been around for millions of years. Yet, in recent decades, the honeybee population has been decreasing dramatically. On average a beekeeper will report 20% of annual losses, up to 90% on some occasions. Researchers have found that several factors have been causing the decrease in the honeybee population; a loss of habitat, introduction of new chemicals into the ecosystem, increase in the hive size and the rapid spread of diseases. Loss of Habitat…

    • 1504 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To this end, Mandeville also argued that self-interest produces socially and economically beneficial outcomes. These views of Mun and…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays