Description
Book SynopsisIn Pride, Manners, and Morals: Bernard Mandeville’s Anatomy of Honour Andrea Branchi offers a reading of the Anglo-Dutch physician and thinker’s philosophical project from the hitherto neglected perspective of his lifelong interest in the theme of honour. Through an examination of Mandeville’s anatomy of early eighteenth-century beliefs, practices and manners in terms of motivating passions, the book traces the development of his thought on human nature and the origin of sociability. By making honour and its roots in the desire for recognition the central thread of Mandeville’s theory of society, Andrea Branchi offers a unified reading of his work and highlights his relevance as a thinker far beyond the moral problem of commercial societies, opening up new perspectives in Mandeville’s studies.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Chastity and Courage 2 Bernard Mandeville’s Anatomy of Honour Prologue: Rotterdam, Leyden and London 1 Mandeville’s Continental Background 1 Mandeville’s Female Voices 1 The Century of Sex 2 The Virgin Unmask’d 3 Female Education. “What Girls Should Do with Latin?” 2 The Oxford Gentleman and Philopirio 1 Living Dead and Public Benefactors 2 The Duel of Honour 3 Medicine and Philosophy: The Hypp’d Nation 3 The Political Offspring of Pride 1 Powerful Persuasions 2 Men of Fashion, Bullies in Morality 3 Natural and Artificial Courage 3 Politeness and Virtue 1 Mandeville’s Rise to Fame 2 Hypocrisy and Self-deception 3 The Ticklish Foundation of Female Virtue 4 Cleomenes and Horatio 1 Portrait of a Complete Gentleman 2 Self-liking and the Origin of Politeness 3 A Conjectural History of Sociability 6 Modern Honour and the Cult of the Self 1 Martial Virtue 2 The History of Pride 3 Mandeville’s Challenge Conclusions Bibliography Index
