Godwin William (1756–1836), English philosopher, novelist, and political writer. Godwin’s main philosophical treatise, Enquiry concerning Political Justice (1793), aroused heated debate. He argued for radical forms of determinism, anarchism, and utilitarianism. Government corrupts everyone by encouraging stereotyped thinking that prevents us from seeing each other as unique individuals. Godwin’s novel Caleb Williams (1794) portrays a good man corrupted by prejudice. Once we remove prejudice and artificial inequality we will see that our acts are wholly determined. This makes punishment pointless. Only in small, anarchic societies can people see others as they really are and thus come to feel sympathetic concern for their wellbeing. Only so can we be virtuous, because virtue is acting from sympathetic feelings to bring the greatest happiness to all affected. Godwin took this principle quite literally, and accepted all its consequences. Truthfulness has no claim on us other than the happiness it brings. If keeping a promise causes less good than breaking it, there is no reason at all to keep it. If one must choose between saving the life either of a major human benefactor or of one’s mother, one must choose the benefactor. Ideally we would need no rules in morals at all. They prevent us from seeing others properly, thereby impairing the sympathetic feelings that constitute virtue. Rights are pointless since sympathetic people will act to help others. Later utilitarians like Bentham had difficulty in separating their positions from Godwin’s notorious views. See also BENTHA. J.B.S.