Abstract

The political philosophy of William Godwin has been largely ignored in the past as a consequence of the conservative reaction to the French Revolution. On the one hand, students of English literature have shown some interest in Godwin's novels, e.g., Caleb Williams, and biographers have been fascinated with his famous family--his feminist wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, his daughter, the author of Frankenstein, Mary Godwin Shelley, and his son-in-law, the romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as with his wide circle of literary friends. These include Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles and Mary Lamb, and William Hazlitt. On the other hand, students of politics have utterly neglected his work. ;This legacy is beginning to change, however, with the advent of new studies of Godwin's political doctrines. In these studies, Godwin, the author of the treatise, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, which is the most significant reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, is proclaimed the founder of philosophical anarchism. This author disputes this thesis finding, instead, Godwin to expound a well-integrated theory of liberalism. ;Distortions of Godwin's doctrines have been commonplace. He has been variously described as a lover of anarchy and as a communist. Another analysis, disparaging to Godwin's philosophy, depicts a naively optimistic view of human nature. More recently, he has been saddled with the elitist label, and criticized for embracing an unrealistic view of social change. ;In contrast, to argue that Godwin is a liberal individualist and utilitarian is not only more accurate, but this approach places him within the mainstream of political thought. His philosophy is within the tradition of Enlightenment rationalism, and, in particular, is derivative of the Rational Dissenting movement. Liberalism, in many respects, is on the defensive today; and philosophically, its elements of subjectivism, egoism, arbitrary desire, and others have been subjected to frequent criticism. Although a liberal, Godwin endorses objective values the most distinctive of which include the virtue of sincerity and the right of private judgment. His unique defense of liberalism places him in the forefront of political controversy today. No longer is Godwin's thought to be dismissed as a curious example of utopian speculation unworthy of serious consideration