THE GODWIN LEGEND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 737, 28 August 1953, Page 12

THE GODWIN LEGEND

GODWIN’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY, by D. H. Monro; Oxford University Press: Geoffrey Cumberlege. English price, 15/-. [-EW worthwhile books by contempore . A ary moral are to have a general appeal. It is refreshing, therefore, that such a book should have been written by D. H. Monro, lecturer at Otago University. We have all heard rumours’ enough about the amorality of Godwin’s circle, culminating, so the wildest tale would have it, in Godwin’s return to the accepted standards after the poet Shelley had run off with his daughter. Perhaps we have even accepted the cynical*glimpses which Peacock treats us to; but Peacock’s novels were written after the hey-day of Godwinism, when it had become fashionabl2 to denounce the new morality. Mr. Monro’s attempt to dispel "the Godwin legend" (and in particular that "Godwin rejected emotion in all its forms in favour of a bloodless abstraction he called reason") is based primarily on his vindication of Godwin’s distrust of generalisations. Since one instance of a generalisation seldom mirrors another, generalisations are usually untrustworthy. Reliance on _ accepted social conventions hides humanity from us, encouraging that lack of insight into

the individual case which generates among other things the tragedy of loneliness, the hfevalerice of cruelty, the excess of vice. "Government corrupts" because, on Godwin’s view, political institutions encourage social conventions. Rumour has it that the original title was The Ethics of Anarchy; and in my opinion that would have been more appropriate for a book which deals with moral reflections on political theory rather than straight moral philosophy as we now know it. The author makes the most of attractive presentation€.g., one chapter is called-‘Archbishop Fenelon Versus My Mother." Even excessive use of long quotation has the advantage of presenting a_ creditable selection of Godwinian extracts. Such discussions as those on _ utilitarianism and punishment (not to mention the author’s own views on pacifism which clearly emerge) cannot but be stimulat-

ing.

Ronald J.

Butler