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Reading Bernard Williams

Edited by Daniel Callcut

Published November 27th 2008 by Routledge – 300 pages

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Description

When Bernard Williams died in 2003, the Times newspaper hailed him ‘as the greatest moral philosopher of his generation’. This outstanding collection of specially commissioned new essays on Williams's work is essential reading for anyone interested in Williams, ethics and moral philosophy and philosophy in general.

Reading Bernard Williams examines the astonishing scope of his philosophy from metaphysics and philosophy of mind to ethics, political philosophy and the history of philosophy. An international line up of outstanding contributors discuss, amongst others, the following central aspects of Williams's work:

  • Williams's challenge to contemporary moral philosophy and his criticisms of 'absolute' theories of morality
  • reason and rationality
  • the good life
  • the emotions
  • Williams and the phenomenological tradition
  • philosophical and political agency
  • moral and political luck
  • ethical relativism

Contributors : Simon Blackburn; John Cottingham; Frances Ferguson; Joshua Gert; Peter Goldie; Charles Guignon; Sharon Krause; Christopher Kutz; Daniel Markovits; Elijah Millgram; Martha Naussbaum; Carol Rovane

Reviews

'This fine volume of essays should be read by anyone with an interest in how ethics relates to metaphysics, rationality, narrative, and politics. It should also, of course, be read by anyone with an interest in Bernard Williams.' – A. W. Moore, ETHICS

'Reading Bernard Williams collects the work of many fine philosophers who have read Bernard Williams with great profit and provides an ideal point of entry for those who have not yet had that pleasure. Since Williams' work is often more difficult than it appears, it is extremely helpful to have a book that offers so many clear-eyed critical explications of his ideas.' – Kwame Anthony Appiah, Princeton University, USA

Name: Reading Bernard Williams (Paperback) – Routledge 
Description: Edited by Daniel Callcut. When Bernard Williams died in 2003, the Times newspaper hailed him ‘as the greatest moral philosopher of his generation’. This outstanding collection of specially commissioned new essays on Williams's work is essential...
Categories: Ethics Philosophy, 20th Century, Metaphysics