Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline

Part of a trilogy of posthumous anthologies of Williams's writing, this miscellany assembles 17 otherwise unrelated, uncollected and, in two cases, unpublished essays by one of Britain's most prominent modern philosophers. Drawing on the entirety of Williams's 50-year career, the volume charts a rough progression from early exercises of Williams's nimble intelligence on specific metaphysics, epistemology and ethics questions (how religious language embodies an argument about the comprehensibility of articles of faith; the structure and merit of R.M. Hare's Moral Thinking) to a veteran's expansive and provocative musings on the proper scope and future of philosophy as a discipline. Many essays address issues Williams did not treat at book length but fit into the prism of his lifelong concerns-rejecting scientific objectivity as a legitimate goal for philosophy, focusing on the historical development of modern ethical values and arguing individual action can only be motivated by internal desires, preferences and evaluations. If Williams occasionally belabors the obvious or follows a tangent of questionable interest, his insight and erudition ultimately enliven nearly every question he takes up, even when he is writing outside his areas of greatest expertise. Students of philosophy will find this cross-section of the breadth of his achievement inspiring, although the lack of an overarching argument or single unifying theme means general readers or those seeking an introduction to Williams's philosophy will be better served by Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy or Shame and Necessity.