An important political tract and considered the author's masterpiece. "...one of the earliest, the clearest, and most absolute theoretical expositions of socialist and anarchist doctrine." - (Printing and the Mind of Man). Godwin (1756–1836) is one of the important precursors of both utilitarian and liberal anarchist thought. His 1793 Enquiry, published during the French Revolution, marks a phase in English thought, taking its place alongside Milton's Areopagitica, Locke's Essay on Education and Rousseau's Emile. By the words "political justice" the author meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and the work was therefore an inquiry into the principles of society, government and morals. He believed in the perfectibility of the human race, that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil. Godwin was also the father of Mary Wollstonecraft (author of Frankenstein). Printing and the Mind of Man 243.