Вилијам Годвин: ПОЛИТИЧКА ПРАВДА

An Enquiry concerning POLITICAL JUSTICE and its influence on General virtue and Happiness

In two volumes

VOL. I

CONTENT

Of the First Book

OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.

Chapter 1.

INTRODUCTION

The subject proposed. – System of indifference. – Of passive obedience. – Of liberty extended.

Chap. 2.

HISTORY OF POLITICAL SOCIETY.

Frequency of war. – Among the ancients. – Among the moderns. – The French. – The English. – Causes of war. – Penal laws. – Despotism. – Deduction. – Enumeration of Arguments.

THE MORAL CHARACTERS OF MEN

Chap. 3.

THE MORAL CHARACTERS OF MEN ORIGINATE IN THEIR PERCEPTIOS

No innate principles. – Objections to this assertion. – From the early actions of infants. – From the desire of self-preservation. – From self-love. – From pity. – From the vices of the children. – Tyranny. – Sullenness. – Conclusion.

Chap. 4.

THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERED.

I. Literature

Benefits of literature. – Examples. – Essential properties of literature. – Its defects.

II. Education.

Benefits of education. – Causes of its imbecility.

III. Political justice.

Benefits of political institution. – Universality of its influence. – Proved by mistakes of society. – Origin of evil.

Chap. 5.

INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS EXEPLIFIED.

Robbery and fraud, two great vices in society. – Originate, a) in extreme poverty; b) in the ostentation of the rich; c) in their tyranny. – Rendered permanent, a) By legislation; b) By the administration of law; c) By the inequality of condition.

Chap. 6.

HUMAN INVENTIONS CAPABLE OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT.

Perfectibility of man. – Instanced, first, in language. – Its beginnings. – Abstraction. – Complexity of language. – Second instance: alphabetical writings. – Hieroglyphics at first universal. – Progressive deviations. – Application.

Chap. 7.

OF THE OBJECTION TO THIS PRINCIPLES FROM THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.

Part I

OF MORAL AND PHYSICAL CAUSES.

The question stated. – Provinces of sensation and reflection. – Moral causes frequently mistaken for physical. – Superiority of the former evident from the variety of human character. – Operation of physical causes rare. – Fertility of reflection. – Physical causes in the first instance superior, afterwards moral. – Objection from the effect of breed in animals. – Conclusion.

Part II.

OF NATIONAL CHARACTERS.

Character of the priesthood. – All nations capable of liberty. – The assertion illustrated. – Experience favors these reasoning. - Means of introducing liberty.

Chap. 8.

OF THE OBJECTION TO THESE PRINCIPLES FROM THE INFLUENCE OF LUXURY.

The objection stated. – Source of this objection. – Refuted from mutability. – From mortality. – From sympathy. – From the nature of truth. – The probability of perseverance considered.

BOOK II

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIETY.

Chap. 1.

INTRODUCTION.

Nature of the enquiry. – Mode of pursuing it. – Distinction between society and government.

Chap. 2.

OF JUSTICE.

Connections of politics and morals. – Extent and meaning of justice: Mankind. – Its distribution measured by the capacity of its subjects. – By his usefulness. – Family affection considered. – Gratitude considered. – Objections: from ignorance/from utility. – An exception stated. – Degrees of justice. – Application. – Idea of political justice.

Appendix No. 1

OF SUICIDE

Motives of suicide: a) escape from the pain; b) benevolence. – Martyrdom considered.

Appendix No. 2.

OF DUELING

Motives of dueling: a) revenge; b) reputation for courage. – Fallacy of this motive. – Objection answered. – Illustration.

Chap. 3.

OF DUTY

A difficulty stated. – Of absolute and practical virtue. – Impropriety of this distinction. – Universality of what is called practical virtue. – Instanced in robbery. – In religious fanaticism. – The quality of an action distinct from the disposition with which it is performed. – Farther difficulty. – Meaning of the term, duty. – Application. – Inferences.

OF THE EQUALITY

Chap. 4.

OF THE EQUALITY OF MANKIND.

Physical equality. – Objection. – Answers. – Moral equality. – How limited. – Province of political justice.

Chap. 5.

RIGHTS OF MAN.

The question stated. – Foundation of society. – Opposite rights impossible. – Conclusion from these premises. – Discretion considered. – Rights of kings. – Immoral consequences of the doctrine of rights. – Rights of communities. – Objections: a) the right of mutual aid, explanation (origin of the term, right); b) Right of private judgment and of press. – Explanation. – Reasons of this limitation upon the functions of the community: a) the inutility of attempting restraint; b) its pernicious tendency. – Conclusion.

Chap. 6.

OF THE EXERCISE OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT.

Foundation of the virtue. – Human actions regulated: a) by the nature of things; b) by the positive institution. – Tendency of the later: a) to excite virtue – its equivocal character in this respect; b) to inform the judgment. – Its inaptitude for that purpose. – Province of conscience considered / tendency of an interference with that province. – Recapitulation. – Arguments in favor of positive institution: a) the necessity of repelling private injustice. – Objections: the uncertainty of evidence. – The diversity of motives. – The unsuitableness of the means of correction. – Either to impress new sentiments, or to strengthen old ones. – Punishment for the sake of example considered. – Urgency of the case: a) rebellion; b) war. – Objections. – Reply.

BOOK III

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT

Chap. 1

SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL WRITERS.

The question stated. – First hypothesis: government founded in superior strength. – Second hypothesis: government Jure Divino. – Third hypothesis: the social contract. – The first hypothesis examined. – The second. – Criterion of divine right: a) patriarchal descent; b) justice.

Chap. 2.

OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.

Queries proposed. – Who are the contracting parties? – What is the form of engagement? – Over how long period does the contract extend? – To how great variety of propositions? – Can it extend to laws hereafter to be made? – Addresses of adhesion considered. – Power of a majority.

Chap. 3.

OF PROMISES.

The validity of promises examined. – Shown to be inconsistent with justice. – To be foreign to the general good. – Of the expectation of excited. – The fulfilling the expectation does not imply the validity of a promise. – Conclusion.

Chap. 4.

OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY.

Common deliberation of the true foundation of government. – Proved from the equal claims of mankind. – From the nature of our faculties. – From the object of government. – From the effects of common deliberation. – Delegation vindicated. – Difference between the doctrine here maintained and that of a social contract apparent. – From the merely prospective nature of the former. – From the nullity of  promises. – From the fallibility of deliberation. – Conclusion.

Chap. 5.

OF LEGISLATION.

Society can declare and interpret, but cannot enact. – Its authority only executive.

Chap. 6.

ON OBEDIENCE.

Obedience not the correlative of authority. – No man bound to yield obedience to another. – Case of submission considered. – Foundation of obedience. – Usefulness of social communication. – Case of confidence considered. – Its limitation. – Mischief of unlimited confidence. – Subjection explained.

Appendix.

Moral principles frequently elucidated by incidental reflection. – By incidental passages in various authors. – Example.

Chap. 8.

OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.

Argument in favor of a variety of forms. – Compared with the argument in favor of variety of religious creeds. – That there is one best form of government proved. – From the unity of truth. – From the nature of man. – Objection from human weakness and prejudice. – Danger in establishing an imperfect code. – Manners of nations produced by their forms of government. – Gradual improvement necessary. – Simplicity chiefly to be desired. – Publication of truth the Grand instrument. – By individuals, not the government. – The truth entire, not by parcels. – Sort of progress to be desired.

BOOK IV.

MISCELLANOUS PRINCIPLES.

Chap. 1.

ON RESISTANCE.

Every individual the judge of his own resistance. – Objection. – Answered from the nature of government. – From the modes of resistance: a) force rarely to be employed, either where there is small prospect of success, or where prospect is great; b) history of Charles I estimated. - Reasoning the legitimate mode.

Chap. 2.

OF REVOLUTIONS.

Section 1.

DUTIES OF A CITIZEN.

Obligation to support the constitution of our country considered. – Must arise either from the reason of the case, or from a personal and local consideration. – The first examined. – The second.

Section 2.

MODE OF EFFECTING REVOLITONS.

Persuasion the proper instrument. – Not violence, nor resentment. – Lateness of event desirable.

Section 3.

OF POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

Meaning of the term. – Associations objected to: a) from the sort of  persons with whom a just revolution should originate; b) from the danger of tumult. – Object of association. – In what cases admissible. – Argued for from the necessity to give weight to opinion. – From their tendency to ascertain opinion. – Unnecessary for these purposes. – General inutility. – Concessions. – Importance of social communication. – Propriety of teaching resistance considered.

Section 4.

OF THE SPECIES OF REFORM TO BE DESIRED.

Ought it to be partial or entire? – Truth may not be partially taught. – Partial reformation considered. – Objection. – Answer. – partial reform indispensable. – Nature of a just revolution. – How distant?

Chap. 3.

ON TYRANNICIDE.

…

(first published 1793)