William Godwin (1756-1836) 1, 
British Politician and writer, considered one of the most important precursors of anarchist thought and liberal utilitarianism.
Born in Wisbech, both his paternal and maternal family was considered middle class, why can only be considered as a joke of himself that Godwin him, a radical reformist politician and philosopher, attempted to trace its name until the time of the Normans and link to the great Earl Godwin. Both parents were strict Calvinists considered. He was educated in the profession of his father at Hoxton Academy, where he studied under the supervision of the biographer Andrew encyclopedic Kippis and Abraham Rees. At first it was more radical in their own professors Calvinism, reaching to be considered a Sandemanians or glassite. After graduating he worked as a Calvinist priest in Ware, Stowmarket and Beaconsfield and was in Stowmarket where, through a friend with strong opinions Republican named Joseph Fawcett, the teachings of the French philosophers came to him. In 1782 he moved to London, where in theory still a priest, with the idea to regenerate society through his pen. Adopted the principles of the encyclopedists, and in his mind was the abolition of all existing institutions: political, social and religious. However, he believed that a calm discussion was all that was needed to make any changes, and from the beginning to the end of his career, scorned all recourse to violence. It was a radical philosopher in the strictest sense of the term.
His first work was Life of Lord Chatham (1783), published as anonymous. And, with your name, followed by six sermons on the characters of Aaron, Hazael and Jesus, gathered under the nickname inappropriate Sketches of History (1784), and in which, despite appearing in the mouth of an orthodox Calvinist pronounces the phrase "God himself has no right to be a tyrant" . With the sponsorship of Andrew Kippis, began writing in 1785 for the Annual Register and other periodicals. Also joined a club called the "Revolutionary", which is frequently associated with Lord Stanhope, Horne Tooke, Thomas Holcroft. At this point, his ecclesiastical career had been completely abandoned.
In 1793, the French Revolution in full swing, Godwin published his magnum opus on political science: The Inquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (disquisition on political justice and its influence on virtue and happiness of the people). Even today, this work is little known and less read, was a landmark in English thought. Godwin had never been a worker at any time of his life, but nevertheless was an engine for workers: an engine with political effects. Political Justice became a play at the same level Areopagitica John Milton, the education Essay on John Locke and Rousseau Emilio. With "Political Justice" author meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth in the practice of a community" , and therefore, the work was a disquisition on the principles of society, government and morality. Over time, Godwin had "convinced that the monarchy was a form of government inevitably corrupt" , and desiring a simpler form of government gradually began to consider "the government itself in its essence prevents the improvement of thought" , which he reaffirmed the principles that later became known as one of the precursors of anarchism. Godwin had a considerable influence on the thinking of his time. The fame gave Justice Policy was drawn to the attention of other thinkers.
Godwin believed in the ability to perfect the human being, the idea that there are no innate principles, and therefore the idea that there is a predisposition to evil. For him, all control of man by man was intolerable, and the day would come when every man, doing what seems right in his own eyes, would be actually doing what is best for the community, because everyone would be guided by the principles of pure reason. In Godwin, the extreme optimism combined with a strong belief in determinism and the idea that evil actions of men are caused by corrupt social conditions that were inherited and that changing those conditions could wipe out the evil in man. Recognized the need for a government in the short term but hoped that one day in which that government was unnecessary. Neither was a radical egalitarian, but thought that discrimination based on other grounds other than their own merits and ability was immoral.
Moreover, his critique of state education is something that has not been accepted by many, with the notable exception of American liberals. For Godwin, all the radical reforms he proposed were to be taken after the debate, and in exchange for a mature change resulted from that debate. So, while Godwin fully approved philosophical schemes of revolutionary forerunners, came to stand alongside Edmund Burke in their opposition to violence as a means of achieving reform. Always willing to give part of a hard-earned salary to more than a poor man kept a natural relationship could not have debts with any man, or that gratitude to the parents or benefactors had nothing to do with justice or virtue. At a time when the penal code was extremely severe, seriously discussed the advisability of any kind of punishment. The property had to be for the most in need, however, still believed that there was any need to respect the belongings of others, as he saw it as part of their "right to private opinion" that he valued so much.
