Godwin’s Enquirer

David Reisman ()
Additional contact information
David Reisman: University of Surrey

Chapter Chapter 7 in William Godwin and Thomas Robert Malthus, 2024, pp 137-158 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Malthus said that he had been inspired to write the Essay to refute some of the doctrines (especially those in Part II, Chapter 2) of Godwin’s Enquirer, published in 1797. The Enquirer expands on the topics in the Enquiry. It is critical of market economics, the profit motive, invidious comparison, state education and private property. It argues for social norms and standards. Production, consumption, distribution and exchange should be governed by the true needs of the community as measured by the consensus. Choices should be tested by social science using the empirical method, probability and sense perception. Godwin warns once again against state education but defends a multiplicity of differentiated schools. As in the Enquiry, the Enquirer endorses the consensus and disparages extreme individualism. Pattern maintenance unifies the community. Morality is defined by happiness. It must be group happiness. Freedom to act is not unlimited. In Part II, Chapter 2 (a section of 16 pages, without any mention of population) Godwin discusses the civilising function of relative equality, of sympathy versus self-interest, and of the factor labour which he states once again to be the only input capable of adding value.

Keywords: Economic incentives; Sense perception; Morality; Education; Equality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-62113-0_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031621130

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-62113-0_7

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().