Mandeville’s thinking was informed by his medical training and his innovative approach to the treatment of illness with both physiological and psychological components. Through incisive and controversial analyses of sexual mores, gender inequality, economic structures, and political ideology, Mandeville sought to provide a naturalistic account of human behavior—one that put humans in close continuity with animals. Aware that his fellow human beings might find this offensive, he cloaked his theories in fables, poems, anecdotes, and humorous stories. Mandeville mastered irony precisely for the purpose of making us aware of uncomfortable aspects of our deepest natures—aspects that we still struggle to acknowledge today.
Dr John Callanan
07 April 2025
The influence of controversial and satirical philosopher, Bernard Mandeville is revealed in John J. Callanan's 'Man-Devil'
Man-Devil: The Mind and Times of Bernard Mandeville, the Wickedest Man in Europe is a provocative account of Mandeville and his work, known for scandalising and appalling his contemporaries.
Dr John Callanan, Reader in Philosophy at King’s has published new book ‘Man-Devil’ examining doctor and philosopher, Bernard Mandeville as ‘one of the most influential thinkers of the eighteenth century’. The book delves into Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees which argued society’s economic prosperity depends on harnessing individuals’ vices and self-interested passions, an idea which outraged the public in 1714. By contrast, John Callanan examines Mandeville as perfectly suited to analyse and satirise the emerging phenomenon of modern society at the time.
'Man-Devil' is published by Princeton University Press and has has been reviewed on The Spectator, History Today and Literary Review.
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Reader in Philosophy