Friends are not concerned with what might be made of one another, but only with the enjoyment of one another; and the condition of this enjoyment is a ready acceptance of what is and the absence of any desire to change or to improve. A friend is not somebody one trusts to behave in a…
There was a minor philosopher in the 19th century who was described as the janitor of the Hegelian system, and there are many today who similarly become janitors of their own systems. There’s a lot of bad philosophy that’s hastily done, but there’s always been. No doubt the bad sort now will take on the…
This from Cogito, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1994, pp. 3-19 Cogito: Perhaps you could start by telling us something about your own philosophical background. How did you come to study philosophy, and what have been the main influences that have helped to shape your thought? Williams: I started learning philosophy formally at Oxford, where I went, in the…
Richard Menary’s lovely essay I want to suggest that becoming a virtuous whisky drinker is not simply seeking after pleasurable sensations. Being a virtuous whisky drinker is taking pleasure in directing our senses at the complex array of tastes and smells that the beautiful dram affords us. My acquaintance enjoyed his sweet alcoholic mix, but…
This in Cognition. alcoholCognitionconsequentialismMoral psychologyUtilitarianism
When moral dilemmas are posed in a foreign language, people become more coolly utilitarian — The Economist Daniel Kahnemanlanguagemoral philosophyMoral psychologyPsychologyUtilitarianism
It’s been about 18 months since my last posting on Bernard Williams. Having worked my way through Bryan Magee’s excellent series (Men of Ideas and The Great Philosophers) my original perception that BW was the best performer of both series, remains in tact 25 years on (Searle being the other good performer though I think BW…
Here’s an obituary by the ever excellent Jane O’Grady. CognitionCognitive neuroscienceconsciousnessDavid ChalmersfunctionalismJ. J. C. Smartjack smartNeurophilosophyneuroscienceNinian SmartPhilosophyPhilosophy of mindPhysicalismType physicalismUtilitarianism
I’ve just had the occasion to read a posthumously published paper by Bernard Williams. One is reminded what a top-notch mind he was, steering a balance between the worst excesses of analytical philosophy’s logicism and continental obscurity, yet with devastating and readable arguments. (OK, I concede that the one exception is his incredibly dense but…
manwithoutqualities 