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Bernard Williams
Sign in to saveAlso known as Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, Bernard Arthur Owen Williams
English moral philosopher (1929–2003)
OverviewAI-generated
Bernard Arthur Williams was a British philosopher and university teacher born in Westcliff-on-Sea in 1929. He worked at University College London and the University of California, Berkeley, and was educated at Balliol College. His professional focus included ethics, identity, political philosophy, and utilitarianism within the context of contemporary Western philosophy. He was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and Philippa Foot.
Williams died of multiple myeloma in Rome in 2003. He was married to Shirley Williams and spoke English. He received the honor of Knight Bachelor and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy. His notable works include *Fröhliche Wissenschaft*, *Truth and Truthfulness*, *Morality*, and *Jailbait; the Story of Juvenile Delinquency*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 45
Top works
- Fröhliche Wissenschaft
- Truth and Truthfulness
- Rene Lalique
- Morality
- Jailbait; the Story of Juvenile Delinquency
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- Bernard Arthur Owen Williams , ( 1929-09-21 ) 21 September 1929, Westcliff-on-Sea , England
- Died
- 10 June 2003 (2003-06-10) (aged 73), Rome , Italy
- Spouses
- Shirley Brittain Catlin ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1955 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1974 ) Patricia Law Skinner, ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1974 )
- Education
- Chigwell School
- Alma mater
- Balliol College, Oxford
- Academic advisors
- R. M. Hare , Gilbert Ryle
- Era
- Contemporary philosophy
- Region
- Western philosophy
- School
- Analytic philosophy
- Institutions
- All Souls College, Oxford New College, Oxford University College, London Bedford College, London King's College, Cambridge University of California, Berkeley Corpus Christi College, Oxford
- Notable students
- Myles Burnyeat
- Main interests
- Ethics
- Notable ideas
- Internal reasons for action , moral luck , dirty hands , demandingness objection
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Family name
- Williams
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- Westcliff-on-Sea
- Place of death
- Rome
- Occupation
- university teacher
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Award
- Knight Bachelor
- Doctoral student
- Lydia Goehr
- Field of work
- utilitarianism
- Movement
- Western philosophy
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1929-09-21
- date of death
- 2003-06-10
- cause of death
- multiple myeloma
- member of
- British Academy
- manner of death
- natural causes
- different from
- Bernard Williams
- influenced by
- Philippa Foot
- time period
- contemporary philosophy
- P12749
- Alois Bierl
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English 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."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bernard Williams” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.