Essays and Reviews

1959–2002

Bernard Williams

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780691168609, 9780691159850
• eBook ISBN: 9781400848393
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophical Essays

The first collection of popular reviews and essays from distinguished philosopher Bernard Williams

Bernard Williams was one of the most important philosophers of the past fifty years, but he was also a distinguished critic and essayist with an elegant style and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas to a wide public. This is the first collection of Williams's popular essays and reviews. Williams writes about a broad range of subjects, from philosophy to science, the humanities, economics, feminism, and pornography.

Included are reviews of major books such as John Rawls's Theory of Justice, Richard Rorty's Consequences of Pragmatism, and Martha Nussbaum's Therapy of Desire. But many of these essays extend beyond philosophy, providing an intellectual tour through the past half century, from C. S. Lewis to Noam Chomsky. No matter the subject, readers see a first-class mind grappling with landmark books in "real time," before critical consensus had formed and ossified.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1 Plato Today, by R.H.S. Crossman, Spectator (1959)
• 2 English Philosophy since 1900, by G. J. Warnock, Philosophy (1959)
• 3 Thought and Action, by Stuart Hampshire, Encounter (1960)
• 4 The Theological Appearance of the Church of England: An External View, Prism (1960)
• 5 The Four Loves, by C. S. Lewis, Spectator (1960)
• 6 Discourse on Method, by René Descartes, translated by Arthur Wollaston, Spectator (1960)
• 7 The Individual Reason: L’esprit laïc, BBC Radio 3 talk, Listener (1961)
• 8 What Is Existentialism? BBC World Service talk broadcast in Vietnamese (1962)
• 9 Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions, by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Philip Mairet, Spectator (1962)
• 10 Sense and Sensibilia, by J. L. Austin, reconstructed by G. J. Warnock; Philosophical Papers, edited by J. O. Urmson and G. J. Warnock, Oxford Magazine (1962)
• 11 The Concept of a Person, by A. J. Ayer, New Statesman (1963)
• 12 Two Faces of Science, BBC Radio 3 talk in the series Personal View, Listener (1963)
• 13 The English Moralists, by Basil Willey, New York Review of Books (1965)
• 14 Universities: Protest, Reform and Revolution, Lecture in celebration of the foundation of Birkbeck College (1968)
• 15 Has ‘God’ a Meaning? Question (1968)
• 16 Russell and Moore: The Analytical Heritage, by A. J. Ayer (1971)
• 17 Immanuel Kant, by Lucien Goldmann, Cambridge Review (1972)
• 18 A Theory of Justice, by John Rawls, Spectator (1972)
• 19 Beyond Freedom and Dignity, by B. F. Skinner, Observer (1972)
• 20 What Computers Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason, by Hubert L. Dreyfus, New York Review of Books (1973)
• 21 Wisdom: Twelve Essays, edited by Renford Bambrough, Times Literary Supplement (1974)
• 22 The Socialist Idea, edited by Stuart Hampshire and L. Kolakowski, Observer (1975)
• 23 Anarchy, State, and Utopia, by Robert Nozick, Political Philosophy (1975)
• 24 The Ethics of Fetal Research, by Paul Ramsey, Times Literary Supplement (1975)
• 25 The Moral View of Politics, BBC Radio 3 talk in the series Current Trends in Philosophy, Listener (1976)
• 26 The Life of Bertrand Russell, by Ronald W. Clark; The Tamarisk Tree: My Quest for Liberty and Love, by Dora Russell; My Father Bertrand Russell, by Katharine Tait; Bertrand Russell, by A. J. Ayer, New York Review of Books (1976)
• 27 Reflections on Language, by Noam Chomsky; On Noam Chomsky: Critical Essays, edited by Gilbert Harman, New York Review of Books (1976)
• 28 The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, New Scientist (1976)
• 29 The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists, by Iris Murdoch, New Statesman (1977)
• 30 The Logic of Abortion, BBC Radio 3 talk, Listener (1977)
• 31 On Thinking, by Gilbert Ryle, edited by Konstantin Kolenda, London Review of Books (1979)
• 32 Rubbish Theory, by Michael Thompson, London Review of Books (1980)
• 33 Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, by Sissela Bok, Political Quarterly (1980)
• 34 Logic and Society and Ulysses and the Sirens, by Jon Elster, London Review of Books (1980)
• 35 The Culture of Narcissism, by Christopher Lasch; Nihilism and Culture, by Johan Goudsblom, London Review of Books (1980)
• 36 Religion and Public Doctrine in England, by Maurice Cowling, London Review of Books (1981)
• 37 Nietzsche on Tragedy, by M. S. Silk and J. P. Stern; Nietzsche: A Critical Life, by Ronald Hayman; Nietzsche, vol. 1, The Will to Power as Art, by Martin Heidegger, translated by David Farrell Krell, London Review of Books (1981)
• 38 After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, by Alasdair MacIntyre, Sunday Times (1981)
• 39 Philosophical Explanations, by Robert Nozick, New York Review of Books (1982)
• 40 The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God, by J. L. Mackie, Times Literary Supplement (1983)
• 41 Offensive Literature: Decensorship in Britain, 1960–1982, by John Sutherland, London Review of Books (1983)
• 42 Consequences of Pragmatism (Essays 1972–1980), by Richard Rorty, New York Review of Books (1983)
• 43 The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, vol. I, Cambridge Essays 1888–99, edited by Kenneth Blackwell and others, Observer (1984)
• 44 Reasons and Persons, by Derek Parfit, London Review of Books (1984)
• 45 Wickedness: A Philosophical Essay, by Mary Midgley, Observer (1984)
• 46 Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation, by Sissela Bok; The Secrets File: The Case for Freedom of Information in Britain Today, edited by Des Wilson, foreword by David Steel, London Review of Books (1984)
• 47 Choice and Consequence, by Thomas C. Schelling, Economics and Philosophy (1985)
• 48 Privacy: Studies in Social and Cultural History, by Barrington Moore, Jr., New York Review of Books (1985)
• 49 Ordinary Vices, by Judith Shklar; Immorality, by Ronald Milo, London Review of Books (1985)
• 50 The Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair, by Clive Ponting; The Price of Freedom, by Judith Cook, Times Literary Supplement (1985)
• 51 Taking Sides: The Education of a Militant Mind, by Michael Harrington, New York Times Book Review (1986)
• 52 A Matter of Principle, by Ronald Dworkin (1986)
• 53 The View from Nowhere, by Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books (1986)
• 54 What Hope for the Humanities? Times Educational Supplement (1987) (edited version of the Raymond Priestley Lecture [1986])
• 55 The Society of Mind, by Marvin Minsky, New York Review of Books (1987)
• 56 Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre, London Review of Books (1989)
• 57 Intellectuals, by Paul Johnson, New York Review of Books (1989)
• 58 Contingency, Irony and Solidarity, by Richard Rorty, London Review of Books (1989)
• 59 Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, by Charles Taylor, New York Review of Books (1990)
• 60 The Need to Be Sceptical, Times Literary Supplement (1990)
• 61 The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, by Kenneth J. Gergen, New York Times Book Review (1991)
• 62 Realism with a Human Face, by Hilary Putnam, London Review of Books (1991)
• 63 Political Liberalism, by John Rawls, London Review of Books (1993)
• 64 Inequality Reexamined, by Amartya Sen, London Review of Books (1993)
• 65 The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, by Martha Nussbaum, London Review of Books (1994)
• 66 Only Words, by Catharine MacKinnon, London Review of Books (1994)
• 67 The Limits of Interpretation, by Umberto Eco; Interpretation and Overinterpretation, by Umberto Eco, with Richard Rorty, Jonathan Culler, and Christine Brooke-Rose, edited by Stefan Collini; Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, by Umberto Eco; Apocalypse Postponed, by Umberto Eco, translated and edited by Robert Lumley; Misreadings, by Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver; How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays, by Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver, New York Review of Books (1995)
• 68 On Hating and Despising Philosophy, London Review of Books (1996)
• 69 The Last Word, by Thomas Nagel, New York Review of Books (1998)
• 70 Wagner and the Transcendence of Politics, New York Review of Books (2000)
• 71 Why Philosophy Needs History, London Review of Books (2002)
• Acknowledgments
• Acknowledgments to Copyright Holders
• Index