Mandeville's paradox is named after

Bernard Mandeville Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville (; 15 November 1670 – 21 January 1733), was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, he lived most of his life in England and used English for ...

(1670–1733), who posits that actions which may be qualified as vicious with regard to individuals have benefits for society as a whole. This is alluded to in the subtitle of his most famous work, '' The Fable of The Bees: or, Private Vices, Public Benefits''. He states that "Fraud, Luxury, and Pride must live; Whilst we the Benefits receive." The philosopher and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

Adam Smith opposes this (although he defends a moderated version of this line of thought in his theory of the

invisible hand The invisible hand is a metaphor used by the British moral philosopher Adam Smith that describes the unintended greater social benefits and public good brought about by individuals acting in their own self-interests. Smith originally mentio ...

), since Mandeville fails, in his opinion, to distinguish between vice and virtue.

References

Paradoxes Social philosophy Paradoxes in economics {{social-philo-stub