Nature, self-love and dextrous management: the status of the passions in Mandeville’s thought
Résumé
Mandeville, who defines passion as an “Impulse of Nature”, i.e. an involuntary movement, also describes some of them (e.g. shame) as both a natural feeling and a reflection. Alongside with a physiological characterisation, he underlines that “all Passions center in Self-Love”: although these two features lead him to deny them any intrinsic moral value, he nonetheless points out that they may have positive social effects, or even contain seeds of virtues if dexterously managed. We therefore propose to clarify both the definition of the passions and their morality in Mandeville’s thought.