Bernard Williams

Hesitant Thoughts about Bernard Williams

I have never quite “got” the philosopher Bernard Williams. His range of erudition was vast; his writing style often dense or elliptic, reading like the extension of seminar or common room discussions at which one had not been present; and his programme in ethical philosophy hard to pin down (which was precisely the point).

Williams was a realist, in sense of taking persons as one finds them, and recognising that there are many ways of living lives. He considered that “ethics” consists more in learning and reasoning about the values of one’s particular culture and less in discovering some universal theory of life and seeking to apply it; still less in discovering a system of moral “oughts” which become binding rules for living.

Argos-nauting

Argos-nauting in Holloway

If you are not a regular (once every few years), a visit to Argos is disconcerting. Argos’s premises make no concession to presentation. They are basically sheds, divided into two areas. At the back they are warehouses where the goods are stored. At the front, they have the feel of of a shabby airport passport area. Concrete floors; queues which perplex (which one to join?); friendly but firm employees ministering to your uncertainties and finally letting you go.