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Title: Moral Luck : Philosophical Papers 1973-1980 by Bernard Williams ISBN: 0-521-28691-3 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 03 December, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: I don't know what it would MEEEAAAANNNN!
Comment: I just don't know what it would mean for moral principles to be relative to one's subjective motivational set. Williams thinks that most of just "just do" have reason to be moral, given our psychology, and that if one does not have the "typical" human pyschology, well, that person has no reason to be moral. THERE IS no reason to be moral. C'mon Bernie, you can do better than that!
Rating: 4
Summary: Thought-provoking collection of essays on various topics.
Comment: Bernard (pronounced BER-nerd -- he's a Brit) Williams is one of the leading Anglo-American philosophers of the late 20th century. He has written a number of seminal essays on ethics and personal identity. The essays in this collection include several of his classic pieces.
"Persons, character and morality" is an insightul critique of Kantianism in ethics. Williams argues that ethics should not demand of us that we take a completely impartial view of the world. Our own personal commitments and values do, and should, make a difference to how we should act.
"Moral luck" makes several challenging suggestions about the inescapability of the role of good luck in justifying some of our decisions. I am tempted to paraphrase one point Williams makes by saying, "The only difference between the genius and the fanatic is that the genius turned out to be right."
"Internal and external reasons" is a technical, but very influential, essay. Williams notes that a person sometimes has a reason to do something because she has some motivation that will be served by that action (i.e., an internal reason). He explores whether one can also have a reason to do something when she does not have a motivation that would be served by that action (i.e., an external reason).
This is a little abstract. One non-technical way of getting at the issue Williams is discussing in this essay is this: Suppose someone doesn't care about morality. In other words, she has no motivation to act morally. Does she then have any reason to act morally?
Some of these essays are a little technical, and may be hard for the general reader to follow. However, many may be enjoyed by any bright person, and I think you can walk away with something from all of them.
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Title: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy by Bernard Williams ISBN: 067426858X Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 1986 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Problems of the Self : Philosophical Papers 1956-1972 by Bernard Williams ISBN: 0521290600 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 25 March, 1976 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Making Sense of Humanity : And Other Philosophical Papers 1982-1993 by Bernard Williams ISBN: 0521478685 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 30 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Shame and Necessity (Sather Classical Lectures, Vol 57) by Bernard Williams ISBN: 0520088301 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Truth and Truthfulness : An Essay in Genealogy by Bernard Williams ISBN: 0691102767 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 05 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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