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William Godwin was born in 1756 and died in 1836. Godwin was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England.
Godwin's political ideas were an influence on the two great infamous British writers, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1791, Godwin met Mary Wolstonecraft who he later married. Mary died during the birth of their daughter mary, who went on to create "Frankenstein."
William Godwin is said to be the founder of Philosophical Anarchism. His moral theory was thought to be utilitarian, and it could be said that he played an influencial part in the history of the utilitarian ideal.
He argued that the government was a corrupting force in society, perpetuating dependence and ignorance but that it would be rendered unnecessary and powerless by the spread of knowledge.
Godwin realised the exploitation of society by the capitalist state, he wanted those that earned more money than they needed to live in comfort, to share the surplus with those less fortunate.
Perhaps Godwin's influence can be observed in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," that the character of the monster is symbolic of an outsider (anarchist) trying to calve a future in a world populated by the apathetic followers of a capitalist state, only to be left floating in a baron wilderness on a sea of ice? |
