William Godwin was an English political writer and novelist, considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and one of the first modern proponents of anarchist philosophy; indeed he is regarded by many as the founder of philosophical anarchism and the first anarchist.

In 1793, while the French Revolution was in full swing, Godwin published his great work on political science, "Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness." Based on it's influence on the thought of writers like Shelley, Kropotkin, and others, Godwin's "Political Justice" takes its place with Milton's "Areopagitica", Locke's "Essay on Education" and Rousseau's "Emile" as a seminal anarchist and libertarian text.

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, of government and of morals. For many years Godwin had been "satisfied that monarchy was a species of government unavoidably corrupt," and from desiring a government of the simplest construction, he gradually came to consider that "government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind," confirming his beliefs as those that would later be understood as anarchist.