In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument

by Bernard Williams, Geoffrey Hawthorn (Editor)

Bernard Williams is remembered as one of the most brilliant and original philosophers of the past fifty years. Widely respected as a moral philosopher, Williams began to write about politics in a sustained way in the early 1980s. There followed a stream of articles, lectures, and other major contributions to issues of public concern--all complemented by his many works on ethics, which have important implications for political theory. This new collection of essays, most of them previously unpublished, addresses many of the core subjects of political justice, liberty, and equality; the nature and meaning of liberalism; toleration; power and the fear of power; democracy; and the nature of political philosophy itself. A central theme throughout is that political philosophers need to engage more directly with the realities of political life, not simply with the theories of other philosophers. Williams makes this argument in part through a searching examination of where political thinking should originate, to whom it might be addressed, and what it should deliver. Williams had intended to weave these essays into a connected narrative on political philosophy with reflections on his own experience of postwar politics. Sadly he did not live to complete it, but this book brings together many of its components. Geoffrey Hawthorn has arranged the material to resemble as closely as possible Williams's original design and vision. He has provided both an introduction to Williams's political philosophy and a bibliography of his formal and informal writings on politics. Those who know the work of Bernard Williams will find here the familiar hallmarks of his writing--originality, clarity, erudition, and wit. Those who are unfamiliar with, or unconvinced by, a philosophical approach to politics, will find this an engaging introduction. Both will encounter a thoroughly original voice in modern political theory and a searching approach to the shape and direction of liberal political thought in the past thirty-five years.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was an English moral philosopher. His publications include Problems of the Self (1973), Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (1985), Shame and Necessity (1993), and Truth and Truthfulness (2002). He was knighted in 1999.
As Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, Williams became known for his efforts to reorient the study of moral philosophy to psychology, history, and in particular to the Greeks. Described by Colin McGinn as an "analytical philosopher with the soul of a general humanist," he was sceptical about attempts to create a foundation for moral philosophy. Martha Nussbaum wrote that he demanded of philosophy that it "come to terms with, and contain, the difficulty and complexity of human life."
Williams was a strong supporter of women in academia; according to Nussbaum, he was "as close to being a feminist as a powerful man of his generation could be." He was also famously sharp in conversation. Gilbert Ryle, one of Williams's mentors at Oxford, said that he "understands what you're going to say better than you understand it yourself, and sees all the possible objections to it, and all the possible answers to all the possible objections, before you've got to the end of your own sentence."

Reviews

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact that I often find myself disagreeing with his conclusions, Bernard Williams provides an example of an attempt to engage in moral philosophy and political theory with no illusions. His relentless criticisms of moralism, what he characterizes as an inflated belief in the efficacy and importance of context-free moral principles, challenges anyone who wishes to defend the importance of objective moral norms. Likewise, Williams cuts through the Rawlsian fog, challenging ideal theory's prominence in political theory. His primary claim is that this type of political theory represents a form of moralism that fails to actually grasp what real politics is really about: very partial persons who may or may not care about justice but who certainly care about a great many other things engaged in various forms of conflict that somehow stops short of violence. It would not be wrong to detect a Hobbesian streak Williams's political thought but this is tempered by a greater appreciation for the complexity and historicity human motivation. Regardless, Williams continuously challenges the causal moralism that is on display both in political theory and in many areas of applied ethics. These essays deserve to be read and reread.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a member of a prison Ethics Debate group. This was the single best source I’ve read that aids in communication within a pluralistic society.

[Christopher Schaffalitzky · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good enough read. Definitely provoking for philosophers. Some important thoughts in here. But it's also one of those books that impels us to ask: why did this man study philosophy and where is his ideas for solutions? Even Wittgenstein had ideas on what philosophy is supposed to do. Williams only has vague notions that are never properly articulated.

[Samuel Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of these essays recall Betrand Russell's remark on Aristotle: pedantically expressed common sense. They have some suggestive concepts, but I would have liked to see them developed further.

[Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5