Soundness of understanding is connected with simplicity of manners, and leisure for intellectual cultivation: consequently, a distribution of property extremely unequal, is adverse to the most desirable state of man.
— William Godwin, Enquiry, Summary of Principles
There have been three social classes in history, more or less; belonging to each of them has its peculiar effects upon the intellectual life.
The lowest class, or the proletariat, is affected chiefly by the pressures of want. Bodily desires for such things as food and water make it difficult to think properly; they are wont to disregard the rules of philosophy and to structure all their thinking into a justification for such massive changes as would appear to them to save them from their misery. They are prone to support the error of enthusiasm: to attribute to art that which comes from nature.
The highest class, or the aristocracy, is affected chiefly in the opposite way; the great pleasures available to their luxurious condition are liable to be partaken of in excess. They are wont to disregard the rules of philosophy as well, and to structure all their thinking into a justification for their stability in their station, even beyond any usefulness it may have had. They are prone to support the error of superstition: to attribute to nature that which comes from art.
Only the middle class, or the bourgeoisie, are clear-sighted, objective truth-seekers. Being free from want and from excess, they will follow the rules of philosophy. The result is that they will favor the unhampered, undisturbed natural order, even when it is not useful to themselves. This is good political judgment.
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