[The Idea of Progress by J. B. Bury]@TWC D-Link book
The Idea of Progress

CHAPTER XII
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This was entirely opposed to Godwin's principles.

State schools would only be another instrument of power in the hands of a government, worse even than a state Church.

They would strengthen the poisonous influence of kings and statesmen, and establish instead of abolishing prejudices.

He seems to have relied entirely on the private efforts of enlightened thinkers to effect a gradual conversion of public opinion.
In his study of the perfectibility of man and the prospect of a future reign of general justice and benevolence, Godwin was even more visionary than Condorcet, as in his political views he was more radical than the Revolutionists.

Condorcet had at least sought to connect his picture of the future with a reasoned survey of the past, and to find a chain of connection, but the perfectibility of Godwin hung in the air, supported only by an abstract theory of the nature of man.
It can hardly be said that he contributed anything to the theoretical problem of civilisation.


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