Angel.XJ点评《蜜蜂的寓言》

【性恶论者的伊甸园】
…These Insects lived like Men, and allOur Actions they perform'd in small:They did whatever's done in Town,And what belongs to Sword, or Gown:Tho' th'Artful Works, by nible Slight;Of minute Limbs, 'scaped Human SightYet we've no Engines; Labourers,Ships, Castles, Arms, Artificers,Craft, Science, Shop, or Instrument,But they had an Equivalent:Which, since their Language is unknown,Must be call'd, as we do our own.…
In 1705, Bernard Mandeville,published a poem called The Grumbling Hive, or Knaves Turned Honest, which was then republished in 1714 under the title for which it is now famous in the history of social and economic ideas:
The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices, Public Benefits.
寓言体长诗《抱怨的蜂巢》是《蜜蜂的寓言》的思想酵母。，说蜂巢虽然充满了恶德，却十分繁荣兴旺(“每个部分虽被恶德充满，整个蜂国却是一个乐园”)，而蜂群一旦变得诚实，便不再互相欺骗和竞争，蜂国因此而经济萧条，衰微破败，卫国作战后幸存的蜜蜂为防止骄奢淫逸，飞进了一个树洞…
正如Bernard Mandeville认为，人类天生追求友谊的品性和仁爱的热情也好，人依靠理性和自我克制所能获得的真正美德也罢，皆非社会之基础。
相反，被我们称作现世罪恶的东西，无论是人类的恶德还是大自然中的罪恶，才是使人类成为社会性动物的重大根源，才是一切贸易及各行业的坚实基础、生命与依托，概莫能外。
着名学者CrusoeRobinson 在他的演讲中引用了,Mandeville 的很多观点，并说“蜜蜂的寓言”是一部“用英国语言写出的最邪恶、最聪明的书。
《蜜蜂的寓言》对于今天的社会，尤其是AI Ecnomic Fable 仍然具有如下重要的经济哲学理论意义：
1. 制度规则是重要的；
2. 制度是自发生成的。
长诗译作非常欣赏，翻译者功力十足
300 年后的今天，仍然非常值得收藏，一读再读的书！