Bernard Mandeville

Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733) was a Dutch-born physician and writer who settled in London in the 1690s and wrote in English. Trained at Leiden in medicine and philosophy, he specialized in nervous and stomach disorders and published a treatise on hypochondria in dialogue form. His fame rests on The Fable of the Bees, which grew from a short verse satire of 1705 into a large book arguing that private vices such as pride, luxury and greed are what make a nation prosperous. Denounced by a grand jury and attacked by Berkeley and Hutcheson, the book influenced Hume, Adam Smith and later economic thought.