La moralità

by Bernard Williams

In questo breve trattato di introduzione all'etica, l'autore mette a confronto i diversi problemi che deve affrontare chi si occupa e scrive di filosofia morale, e arriva a offrire una stimolante alternativa ai numerosi testi che, nonostante l'intento di sistematicità, paiono disperdere sotto la mole delle informazioni i veri nodi cruciali di una materia così difficile da definire e circoscrivere. Per ottenere il suo scopo, l'autore spiega e analizza le più diffuse posizioni etiche, valutandone la coerenza prima di passare a esplorare la natura del concetto di "bontà" in relazione al principio di responsabilità, alla libertà di scelta, ai ruoli, agli standard, alla natura umana.

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

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."