Inspirational Quotes by Bernard Williams (English Philosopher)

Bernard Williams (1929–2003,) in full Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, was a British philosopher. He is best known for his writings on ethics and the history of Western philosophy, both ancient and modern.

Born in Westcliff, Essex, England, Williams was educated at Chigwell School, Essex, and Balliol College, Oxford. He taught in London and Oxford before being appointed professor of philosophy at Bedford College, London (1964–67.)

Williams became professor of philosophy at Cambridge (1967) and provost of King’s College, Cambridge (1979.) He held many visiting positions at universities in the USA, Australia, and Africa, and in 1987 emigrated to become a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, as a much-publicized addition to the ‘brain drain.’ He returned to the U.K. to become a professor of philosophy at Oxford (1990–96.)

Williams’s philosophical work was comprehensive, with specifically influential contributions to moral philosophy in works such as Morality: An Introduction to Ethics (1972,) Utilitarianism (1973,) Moral Luck (1981,) Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (1985,) and Shame and Necessity (1993.)

Williams chaired the Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship, which produced the Williams Report in 1979, recommending outlawing pornography from shops entered by children and unsuspecting members of the public and showing pornography in selected cinemas under a unique licensing system.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Bernard Williams