William Thompson

William Thompson was an Irish political and philosophical writer and social reformer, who developed from utilitarianism into an early critic of capitalist exploitation. His ideas influenced the cooperative, trade union and Chartist movements as well as Karl Marx. He was born into the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy of wealthy landowners and merchants of Cork society, and inherited a small trading fleet and landed estate near Glandore, West Cork after his father's death in 1814. He rejected the role of absentee landlord and invested much time and resources into improving the welfare and prosperity of the tenants on his estate. He introduced agricultural innovations, services and education for children. He was an enthusiastic student of the Enlightenment, particularly Condorcet, and became a convinced egalitarian and democrat. He supported the French Revolution and the cause of Catholic emancipation in Ireland. He was greatly impressed by the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, with whom he corresponded and established a friendship. He also read and interacted with other utilitarian contemporaries such as James Mill, and was influenced, both positively and negatively, by William Godwin and Thomas Malthus. He proposed a new synthesis: social science, a term he coined, which would combine political economy's concern with scientific materialism with utilitarianism's concern with rational morality. He wrote several books and pamphlets on various social and economic topics, such as the labour theory of value, the role of women in society, and the distribution of wealth. His most famous work is An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth (1824), in which he criticises the existing system of private property and advocates for a more egalitarian and cooperative society. He also attempted to will his estate to the cooperative movement after his death, but his family contested the will and succeeded in having it annulled. He died in 1833 from a chest affliction, and left no direct heir. He is regarded as the first Irish socialist and a forerunner to Marx, who cited him in his works and was influenced by his thought.