Question for Jeff Pasley's section, 10/12/06
As I said last week, section G students will have another chance to answer last week's Enlightenment question, especially if they reference a thinker other than Adam Smith. They should also ponder a related one: which Enlightened view of human nature listed makes the most sense to you for the modern world?
- the traditional Christian one (original sin)
- John Locke's "tabula rasa" view
- Bernard Mandeville's in Fable of the Bees
- the "moral sense" school expressed in your reading by Hutcheson, Jefferson, and (in early version) Shaftesbury
posted by Jeff Pasley at 12:21 PM
2 Comments:
If I had to pick one, I'd say it would be Mandeville's "Fable of the Bees." Our society has this way of functioning where everyone is ultimately interested soley in him or herself, but somehow we work in away that benefits each other as well. Today, many people would argue that what they do is for the good of others. But really, when you break it down, a person's actions tend to begin by promoting their self-interest and then, coincidentally, help others. This is very close to Mandeville's ideas that our greed and personal interest lead to actions that benefit the whole.
As a kind of side note, the fact that Mandeville's critique of human nature comes in the form of satire seems to be right inline with modern society.
I believe that modern day american is most represented by john locke's 'tabula rasa' where people are born with 'blank slates'. 'Blank slates' meaning that they are free of sin and have a clean mind inorder to learn what is right or wrong and just ready to take on the world. On the other hand original sin is being born evil, having sin and already knowing what to do.
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