In what way did Mandeville lay the foundation for Darwinism? Like I do with all my papers, let’s break down this topic into smaller pieces. First, who was Mandeville? According to Wikipedia, “Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville, was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist. Born in Rotterdam, he lived most of his life in England and used English for most of his published works. He became famous for The Fable of the Bees.” Mandeville was born November 15, 1670, and died January 21, 1733. His work The Fable of the Bees was written in 1714. The Fable of the Bees was Mandeville’s most notable work. According to Wikipedia, the main message of The Fable of the Bees is “As they abandon their desire for personal gain, the economy of their hive collapses, and they go on to live simple, “virtuous” lives in a hollow tree. Mandeville’s implication—that private vices create social benefits—caused a scandal when public attention turned to the work, especially after its 1723 edition.” Mandeville’s book The Fable of the Bees triggered immense public criticism during his time. Mandeville is mainly remembered for his impact on discussions of morality and economic theory in the early eighteenth century.

What is Darwinism? Darwinism is just basically just the study of the theory of evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin. According to Wikipedia, “Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science.” According to Britannica, “Charles Darwin, in full Charles Robert Darwin, (born February 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England—died April 19, 1882, Downe, Kent), English naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies.” Now, I do not believe in evolution or Darwinism, but nevertheless, Darwin was a very influential guy in his time, and his works on evolution are still widely accepted today.

In what way did Mandeville lay the foundation for Darwinism? Well, Mandeville has been thought to lay the foundation for Darwinism through his own ideas concerning social order. This talk of social order blended rather nicely with Darwin’s ideas and understanding of natural selection (According to Wikipedia, natural selection is “the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations.”). Mandeville strongly believed that every single man acted only to serve himself and pursue his own interests. But he also believed that every man acting only for his own interests was crucial to the economy and to the society. Darwin’s view on this is that people acting only to serve themselves and only pursuing their own interests will eventually lead to a survival of the best type of economy and society. That is my full and complete answer to the question “In what way did Mandeville lay the foundation for Darwinism?”