I am writing my thoughts on this author because he is the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft (that I enjoyed reading) and because he raised an intriguing point about marriage. William Godwin “placed faith in the capacity of men to be guided by private judgment, arguing that rational men pursuing common good would cease to need government, law and religion.” (P1379) My understanding of this sentence is that rational men will always need government; law and religion, which I agree with since the government represents the people.
Just like Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Paine, Godwin believed that people are born equally and should treat each other with respect and equally. He believed that a man should do everything in his power for the production of general goods for the society as a whole; that he should only stop when he dies. I am not sure of where Godwin stand when it comes to French Revolution, he said that a man can only revolt when he is absolutely sure that the constitution is bad for the whole nation otherwise he become a madman. William Godwin believed the best way to change an individual’s opinion is by argument, writing and conversation. For me this will be only possible if like he said everyone does what they believe is right for the nation as a whole.
According to this author cohabitation and marriage are evil as it slows the independent progress of the mind; for him two human beings should not be obligated to live together for a long period of time, as they find themselves deceived. “Marriage is law, the worst of laws” said Godwin. For this author keeping a partner to yourself by prohibiting your neighbor to have him or her, makes you selfish and guilty of monopoly. He also said that when relationship are changed as we please, we then would not be able to know who the father of a child is; human will not be differentiated by who their father is, how wealthy he is. One measure of democracy will be the abolition of surname. I do not think the abolition of marriage will be ethical, or accepted by the religion…
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Kassia,
Interesting coments on Godwin, especially his views on marriage. It is ironic that he was married to Mary Wollstonecraft (though not at the time he wrote this essay). At the end of your posting you start talking about reactions to his assertions, but you seem to stop without really concluding your observations. I would have liked to see some more of your ideas--try to dig deeper in your discussions. You have good ideas that I would like to see you share and expand.
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