Godwin's "Of History and Romance"- a throwback to French Enlightenment Philosophy

When Godwin writes that the study of the individual, "can never fail to be an object of the highest importance," in his he echoes the words of France's celebrated philosophers, further emphasizing the importance of man and his individual self-worth. While some scholars put Romanticism and the Enlightenment at odds with each other, both are dominated by similar principles. French enlightenment philosophy, especially in the works of Denis Diderot, emphasizes the importance of individual self-worth and self-conscious. Reason, for Diderot, is used to study one's own worth and potential in the world. Godwin's connection to well-known, at his time, French philosophy demonstrates the second effects of the French revolution on the British- the migration of art and philosophical thought as a result of the revolution. Godwin's "Of History and Romance," shows not only the recapitulation of Diderot's individual worth and individual history, but also a general appreciation for the rights and worth of man, itself. It is because man is capable of thought and reason that we get history and historical writings. While some scholars may see the French enlightenment and Romanticism as rivals, Godwin's writing shows, not an opponent, but an evolution of French philosophical thought, further demonstrating the effects of the French Revolution on the evolution of English writing and the idea of the individual.