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Bernard Williams - Shame and Necessity, Second Edition - 9780520256439 - V9780520256439
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Shame and Necessity, Second Edition

€ 29.50
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Description for Shame and Necessity, Second Edition Paperback. Claims that while we are in many ways different from the Greeks the differences are not to be traced to a shift in basic conceptions of ethical life. This book argues that we are more like the ancients than we are prepared to acknowledge, and only when this is understood can we grasp our differences from them, such as our rejection of slavery. Series: Sather Classical Lectures. Num Pages: 280 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HP. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 228 x 151 x 17. Weight in Grams: 442. Series: Sather Classical Lectures. 280 pages. Claims that while we are in many ways different from the Greeks the differences are not to be traced to a shift in basic conceptions of ethical life. This book argues that we are more like the ancients than we are prepared to acknowledge, and only when this is understood can we grasp our differences from them, such as our rejection of slavery. Cateogry: (P) Professional & Vocational. BIC Classification: HP. Dimension: 228 x 151 x 17. Weight: 384.
We tend to suppose that the ancient Greeks had primitive ideas of the self, of responsibility, freedom, and shame, and that now humanity has advanced from these to a more refined moral consciousness. Bernard Williams' original and radical book questions this picture of Western history. While we are in many ways different from the Greeks, Williams claims that the differences are not to be traced to a shift in these basic conceptions of ethical life. We are more like the ancients than we are prepared to acknowledge, and only when this is understood can we properly grasp our most important differences from them, such as our rejection of slavery. The author is a philosopher, but much of his book is directed to writers such as Homer and the tragedians, whom he discusses as poets and not just as materials for philosophy. At the center of his study is the question of how we can understand Greek tragedy at all, when its world is so far from ours. Williams explains how it is that when the ancients speak, they do not merely tell us about themselves, but about ourselves. In a new foreword A.A. Long explores the impact of this volume in the context of Williams' stunning career.

Product Details

Publisher
University of California Press
Number of pages
280
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2008
Series
Sather Classical Lectures
Condition
New
Number of Pages
280
Place of Publication
Berkerley, United States
ISBN
9780520256439
SKU
V9780520256439
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 4 to 8 working days
Ref
99-3

About Bernard Williams
Bernard Williams (1929-2003) was one of the most distinguished British philosophers of the twentieth century, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University, and Monroe Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews for Shame and Necessity, Second Edition
"A dazzlingly clever and agile assault. . . . Williams's treatment of shame is brilliant. . . . Mr Williams's mind is subtle, his reasoning complex. In places this is a difficult book, but always because the argument requires it; essentially, it is a model of philosophical lucidity. And though it is deeply serious, we can often catch an ironic inflection in the author's voice."
New York Times
"Brilliant, demanding, disturbing."
New York Review of Books
"Poets often prove to be much better observers of human thought, character and action than philosophers, historians or psychologists, who are apt to launch into theory and generalisation before they have a good description of what they are setting out to explain. This is what Williams's discussions of the ancient texts bring out in every instance, and what makes his book worth reading, not just for those who are interested in the question whether we have made any real moral progress, but also for those who are interested in the Greeks, or in the varieties of ethical experience."
London Review of Books
"Clearly written, well argued, and carefully documented."
Library Journal

Goodreads reviews for Shame and Necessity, Second Edition


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