Bernard Williams

Born

in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, The United Kingdom

September 21, 1929

Died

June 10, 2003

Website

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/jun/13/guar...

Genre

Philosophy

Influences

G.E. Moore, Donald Davidson, Friedrich Nietzsche, R.M. Hare, Philippa ...more

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Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams FBA has been described as the most important British moral philosopher of his time.

Williams spent the bulk of his career at four academic institutions: Oxford, Cambridge, University College London, and the University of California, Berkeley. Early in his career at Cambridge, Williams became known internationally for his attempt to reorient the study of moral philosophy to history and culture, politics and psychology, and, in particular, to the Greeks. Described as an "analytic philosopher with the soul of a humanist," he saw himself as a synthesist, drawing together ideas from fields that seemed increasingly unable to communicate with one another. He rejected scientific and evolutionary reductionism. For ...more

Combine Editions
Bernard Williams’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 3,379 ratings · 205 reviews · 46 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy 4.05 avg rating — 598 ratings — published 1985 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Morality: An Introduction to Ethics 3.56 avg rating — 186 ratings — published 1972 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shame and Necessity 4.16 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 1993 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Moral Luck: Philosophical Papers 1973-1980 4.08 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 1981 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy 3.53 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 2002 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Problems of the Self: Philosophical Papers 1956 1972 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 1973 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry 3.84 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 1978 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument by Bernard Williams, Geoffrey Hawthorn (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2005 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Essays and Reviews: 1959-2002 by Bernard Williams, Michael Wood 4.36 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline 4.32 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2006 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Bernard Williams…

Quotes by Bernard Williams

“Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.”
― Bernard Williams

15 likes

“People who say, 'Let the chips fall where they may,' usually figure they will not be hit by a chip.”
― Bernard Williams

tags: humor, hypocrisy

14 likes

“Utilitarians are often immensely conscientious people, who work for humanity and give up meat for the sake of the animals. They think this is what they morally ought to do and feel guilty if they do not live up to their own standard. They do not, and perhaps could not, ask: How useful is it that I think and feel like this?”
― Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy

12 likes

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