and other radical lifestyles such as naturism had popularity among individualist anarchists. Other important currents common within European individual anarchism include free love, illegalism and freethought. Early influences William Godwin William Godwin was an individualist anarchist and philosophical anarchist who was influenced by the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, and developed what many consider the first expression of modern anarchist thought. Godwin was, according to Peter Kropotkin, "the first to formulate the political and economical conceptions of anarchism, even though he did not give that name to the ideas developed in his work." Godwin advocated extreme individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated. Godwin, a utilitarian, believed that not all individuals are of equal value, with some of us "of more worth and importance' than others depending on our utility in bringing about social good. Godwin believed that the person whose life was the most conducive to the general good should be favored, eschewing equal rights. Godwin opposed government because it infringes on the individual's right to "private judgement" to determine which actions most maximize utility, but also objected to all authority over the individual's judgement. This aspect of Godwin's philosophy, minus the utilitarianism, was developed into a more extreme form later by Stirner. Godwin even opposed individuals performing together in orchestras, writing in Political Justice that "everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil." The only apparent exception to this opposition to cooperation is the spontaneous association that may arise when a society is threatened by violent force. One reason he opposed cooperation is he believed it to interfere with an individual's ability to be benevolent for the greater good. Godwin opposes the idea of government, but wrote that a minimal state is a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge. He expressly opposed democracy, fearing oppression of the individual by the majority (though he preferred democracy to dictatorship). Godwin supported individual ownership of property, defining it as "the empire to which every man is entitled over the produce of his own industry." But he also suggested that individuals give each other their surplus property when the other needed it, without involving trade (e.g. gift economy). Thus, while people have the right to private property, they should give it away as enlightened altruists. Godwin explained this approach stating, "[e]very man has a right