Review: Ethics and Limits of Philosophy
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsMany philosophical mistakes are woven into morality,"" says Williams (Provost, King's College, Cambridge), and in this urbane and erudite but sometimes vague and highhanded essay he deftly ferrets them out. Aristotle believed that a specific sort of ethical, cultural, and political life would constitute a supreme, harmonious synthesis of every human potential, derived from an ""absolute understanding of nature."" But we have given up that belief and relativized the perspective of the agent, placing it alongside conflicting perspectives from other cultures. And since the dispositions of the agent are the ultimate support system of ethical value, that system has been torn from its moorings--for good. There is no longer any ""Archimedean point"" for the ethician to stand on and move the world, or construct a new one. Kant sought such an impartial standpoint with his practical reason, but practical deliberation is always ""first-personal,"" reflection and detachment are not the same thing. Prescriptivists connect all evaluation to action (saying something is better amounts to an order to prefer it to the less good), but this fails to do justice to aesthetic judgments, among other things. Williams is rather sharp-tongued: in his view, Aristotle's doctrine of the Mean is nearly useless, G.E. Moore's ""naturalistic fallacy"" is a ""spectacular misnomer,"" the hallowed Scholastic dictum that everything desired is desired sub specie boni is just not true. Williams is also a formidable analyst, but he doesn't often descend to argue cases and he invokes the social sciences as a corrective of philosophical ""timelessness,"" without exemplifying this in much detail. A difficult but rewarding book, of interest to serious students of ethics.
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Richard Newton - GoodreadsThis is an interesting book in which Williams makes some profound and deep observations, not just about ethics but, as the title implies, about the ability of philosophy to understand, create or ... Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Kevin - GoodreadsPhenomenal work by one of the twentieth century's great moral philosophers. I can't recommend this work enough to students of moral and political philosophy. Williams's elusive style, by which his ... Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - manwithoutqualities - GoodreadsAnything by Williams is masterful. Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - laura - Goodreadsok, i didn't read it in one weekend-- in fact, i took two, and all of the days in the middle, and just a little of this morning. whew. here's what i've got to say: bernard williams wrote beautiful ... Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Tyler - GoodreadsThis 1985 survey of modern ethics comes to us from a provost at Kings College, Cambridge. Bernard Williams raises an ancient concept, “virtue,” as an alternative to what he considers today's ... Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Josh Paul - GoodreadsBernard Williams being all smart and sophisticated. Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Jennifer - GoodreadsAlthough he treats certain historical positions quite shallowly, this book is a joy to read (and reread). I think any secular person who wants to take "morality" seriously (Kantians, utilitarians, I'm lookin at you!) will need to deal with the objections raised by this book. Read full review
Review: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
User Review - Zedder - GoodreadsThis is so close to being really, really good, but then he drops the ball. Consistently. Still one of the best books in Anglo-American ethics written over the past 30 years. (Trying to imagine what else should be on that list is a depressing thought.) Read full review
