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" (On Godwin's theories) Personal property is another of the institutions which distorts clear perception and distorts virtuous motive. The economic system, by reinforcing the more vicious aspects of human nature, greed, vanity, envy, and rivalry, inflicts moral damage on the minds both of the rich and the poor. A man who has a better claim to resources than I have has a right to demand them. If a beggar is starving and I have plenty of bread, I must give him some of mine. And there should be no question of requiring or offering gratitude, which is a disguised form of political dependence or deferred obligation. "

, The Godwins and the Shelleys: A Biography of a Family


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 quote : (On Godwin's theories) Personal property is another of the institutions which distorts clear perception and distorts virtuous motive. The economic system, by reinforcing the more vicious aspects of human nature, greed, vanity, envy, and rivalry, inflicts moral damage on the minds both of the rich and the poor. A man who has a better claim to resources than I have has a right to demand them. If a beggar is starving and I have plenty of bread, I must give him some of mine. And there should be no question of requiring or offering gratitude, which is a disguised form of political dependence or deferred obligation.