[tt] [technoliberation] Godwin, perfectibility and immortality

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu> -----

From: "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:56:27 -0500
To: technoliberation at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [technoliberation] Godwin, perfectibility and immortality
Reply-To: technoliberation at yahoogroups.com

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9C-4KHC2WY-2

History of European Ideas
Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2007, Pages 25-39

'Why may not man one day be immortal?': Population, perfectibility, and
the immortality question in Godwin's Political Justice

Siobhan Ni Chonailla, E-mail The Corresponding Author
aDarwin College, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EU, UK

Abstract

Godwin's controversial claim for earthly immortality in the first
edition of Political Justice has been largely dismissed by scholars as a
flaw in his philosophy or as absurd speculation which Godwin cannily
omitted from the later editions of the text. In this paper, I will
demonstrate, not only that such claims were not nearly as idiosyncratic
or eccentric as they have been presented, but that they constitute an
intrinsic part of his overall philosophy regarding perfectibility and
human progress. Moreover, by examining the revisions made to Political
Justice in the second and third editions, it will be possible to prove
that the essence of his argument regarding material immortality was not
as radically altered as is widely accepted. I will further show how the
population controversy of the 18th century forced Godwin to apply his
perfectibilist theory to contemporary demographic challenges and how he
defended his concept of immortality from both the principle of
population and, more particularly, Malthusian philosophy. 


 
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