Abstract

This essay explores a curious philosophical parallel between William Godwin’s novel, St. Leon (1799), and Immanuel Kant’s brief essay “On a Supposed Right to Lie From Altruistic Motives” (1797). Drawing on the psychoanalytic philosophy of Alenka Zupančič, the essay argues that St. Leon is finally a philosophical fable on a person’s duty to speak the truth and, as such, exemplifies Godwin’s characteristic faith in honesty and sincerity as key components of political justice.

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