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Liberal rationality in The Fable of the Bees. A comparison with Adam Smith and Wenceslao Fernández Flórez
[Racionalidad liberal en La fábula de las abejas. Una comparación con Adam Smith y Wenceslao Fernández Flórez]

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Rodríguez Braun

    (Spanish Colegio Libre de Eméritos)

  • Fernando Méndez Ibisate

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Mandeville, Smith, and Fernández Flórez approached economic and social problems defending liberty and at the same time acknowledging the existence of conflicts and contradictions that demand ethics, politics, and law. Their liberal rationality is not Panglossianly optimistic, neither is it cynic, and their individualism not only does not exclude society but builds upon it. They admitted the complexity of human nature and society as they really are and recognized that we would not progress economically suppressing the market, just as we would not do so morally in a fantastic universe without sins. The three stressed that institutions and rules are indispensable in communities of free and responsible people. They rejected the excesses of power and warned of the dangers of promoting ideal worlds.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Rodríguez Braun & Fernando Méndez Ibisate, 2025. "Liberal rationality in The Fable of the Bees. A comparison with Adam Smith and Wenceslao Fernández Flórez [Racionalidad liberal en La fábula de las abejas. Una comparación con Adam Smith y Wenceslao Fernández Flórez]," Iberian Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Dpto. Historia e Instituciones Económicas I., vol. 12(1), pages 19-27.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucm:ijohet:v:12:y:2025:i:1:p:19-27
    DOI: 10.5209/ijhe.102386
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    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • B11 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic)
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology

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