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Name:
William Godwin
Dates:
Born: March 3, 1756 at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, England
Died: April 7, 1836
Specialization:
Political Philosophy
Major Works:
Life of Lord Chatham (1783)
Sketches of History (1784)
The Inquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793)
Biography:
Raised in a Calvinist household, William Godwin was a political philosopher and
radical whose writings continue to influence those who argue against the growth
and corruption of government power. He wrote much of his political material while
the French Revolution was raging on the continent and he argued emphatically
that monarchy was a form of government which was inevitably corrupt.
Godwin's solution to such corruption was to make governments as small and minimalistic as possible - the less a government can do, the less of a threat it can be to the liberty of the people. According to Godwin, "government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind," and because of this some have concluded that Godwin was an anarchist who didn't want any government to exist at all.
Part of Godwin's political philosophy was based upon his very un-Calvinist idea that there was no "original sin" that tainted human nature; instead, there are no innate principles of human nature at all. Nevertheless, he seems to have believed that so long as a path for good and justice is open to people, they will choose that over anything else.
In 1797 William Godwin married Mary Wollstonecraft. Together they had one daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Better known as Mary Shelley, she is famous as the author of the novel Frankenstein.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What is the Philosophy of Science?
The Philosophy of Science is concerned with, obviously enough, science - specifically, how science operates, what the goals of science should be, what relationship science should have with the rest of society, the differences between science and other activities, etc. Everything that happens in science has some relationship with the Philosophy of Science and is predicated upon some philosophical position, even though that may be rarely evident.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
