Introduction
Manderville argues that “private vices” (or self-interest) leads to “publick benefits” (such as social structures like language, law and markets). This is because thinkers like Manderville posit that the best approach for running a society is to create and maintain a Capitalist structure where all members commercialize their effort and make the best of it in terms of profiting from their activities. This paper posits that the benefit of such a commercial society is that it enables people to turn their selfish and unsociable passion into good and positive things. The paper will evaluate this thesis in the light of the ideas ...