William Godwin Thought

William Godwin (1756-1836) is said to the father of philosophical anarchism.  He is also famous for being the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, the father of Mary Shelley, and the creator of the detective novel genre, and the inspiration for the political ideals of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Here is a sample of his writing and ideas.

The great cause of humanity, which is now pleading in the face of the universe, has but two enemies; those friends of antiquity, and those friends of innovation, who, impatient of suspense, are inclined violently to interrupt the calm, the incessant, the rapid and auspicious progress which thought and reflection appear to be making in the world.  Happy would it be for mankind if those persons who interest themselves most zealously in these great questions would limit their exertions to the diffusing, in every possible mode, a spirit of enquiry, and the embracing of every opportunity of increasing the stock, and generalizing the communication, of political knowledge.