Description
Book SynopsisWhat can, and what can't, philosophy do? What are its ethical risks - and its possible rewards? How does it differ from science? This book addresses these questions and presents a vision of philosophy as fundamentally different from science in its aims and methods even though there is still in philosophy something that counts as getting it right.
Trade Review"[Williams emphasized] the role of the local and the historical, the need for philosophy to 'sound right.' One ends Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline wishing that he had another decade both to do the sort of philosophy that 'sounds right' and to tell us more about what made it sound so."--Alan Ryan, New York Review of Books "[Williams's books] reveal just how challenging, and how enjoyable, really imaginative philosophy can be."--Simon Blackburn, New Republic "Editor A.W. Moore ... has certainly done the scholarly world a service... Williams is a virtuoso practitioner and questioner of philosophy. His task is both positive and negative: positive in that he seeks to carve out a place for distinctively philosophical contributions to human knowledge and well-being (where these contributions are indeed peculiarly philosophical and not scientific), and negative in that he is concerned with the limited nature of these contributions."--Choice "[T]his superb collection of essays further demonstrates Williams's greatness as not only a multitalented philosopher but also a human one. More important, it appropriately honours his philosophical legacy by offering essays that span his entire career."--The Philosopher's Magazine "His departure from our scene is our loss; we can only be thankful that collections such as this allow discussion with him to continue."--Alan Montefiore, Philosophy
Table of ContentsPreface by Patricia Williams vii Introduction by A.W.Moore xi PART ONE: Metaphysics and Epistemology CHAPTER ONE: Tertullian's Paradox (1955) 3 CHAPTER TWO: Metaphysical Arguments (1957) 22 CHAPTER THREE: Pleasure and Belief (1959) 34 CHAPTER FOUR: Knowledge and Reasons (1972) 47 CHAPTER FIVE: Identity and Identities (1995) 57 PART TWO: Ethics CHAPTER SIX: The Primacy of Dispositions (1987) 67 CHAPTER SEVEN: The Structure of Hare's Theory (1988) 76 CHAPTER EIGHT: Subjectivism and Toleration (1992) 86 CHAPTER NINE: The Actus Reus of Dr.Caligari (1994) 97 CHAPTER TEN: Values, Reasons, and the Theory of Persuasion (1996) 109 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Moral Responsibility and Political Freedom (1997) 119 CHAPTER TWELVE: Tolerating the Intolerable (1999) 126 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Human Prejudice (unpublished) 135 PART THREE: The Scope and Limits of Philosophy CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Political Philosophy and the Analytical Tradition (1980) 155 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Philosophy and the Understanding of Ignorance (1995) 169 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline (2000) 180 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: What Might Philosophy Become? (unpublished) 200 Bernard Williams: Complete Philosophical Publications 215
