In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument PDF
Preview In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument
In the Beginning Was the Deed This page intentionally left blank In the Beginning Was the Deed REALISM AND MORALISM IN POLITICAL ARGUMENT Bernard Williams Selected, edited, and with an introduction by Geoffrey Hawthorn PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright©2005byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, 3MarketPlace,Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY AllRightsReserved Thirdprinting,andfirstpaperbackprinting,2008 PaperbackISBN:978-0-691-13410-9 TheLibraryofCongresshascatalogedtheclotheditionofthisbookasfollows Williams,BernardArthurOwen. Inthebeginningwasthedeed:realismandmoralismin politicalargument/BernardWilliams;selected,edited, andwithanintroductionbyGeoffreyHawthorn. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13:978-0-691-12430-8(cloth:alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-691-12430-2(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Politicalscience—Philosophy.2.Politicalethics.I.Hawthorn,Geoffrey. II.Title. JA71.W4622005 320′.01—dc22 2005043379 BritishLibraryCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailable ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon Printedonacid-freepaper.∞ press.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Contents Preface PatriciaWilliams vii Introduction GeoffreyHawthorn xi ONE RealismandMoralisminPoliticalTheory 1 TWO IntheBeginningWastheDeed 18 THREE Pluralism,CommunityandLeftWittgensteinianism 29 FOUR ModernityandtheSubstanceofEthicalLife 40 FIVE TheLiberalismofFear 52 SIX HumanRightsandRelativism 62 SEVEN FromFreedomtoLiberty: TheConstructionofaPoliticalValue 75 EIGHT TheIdeaofEquality 97 NINE ConflictsofLibertyandEquality 115 TEN Toleration,aPoliticalorMoralQuestion? 128 ELEVEN Censorship 139 TWELVE HumanitarianismandtheRighttoIntervene 145 vi • Contents THIRTEEN Truth,Politics,andSelf-Deception 154 BernardWilliams:WritingsofPoliticalInterest 165 Index 171 Preface Patricia Williams ITISSAD,butappropriate,thatmyfinal,practicalgestureofappreciation and love for Bernard should be to help with the publication of the last threecollectionsofhisphilosophicalwritings.TheSenseofthePast:Es- saysintheHistoryofPhilosophy,PhilosophyasaHumanisticDiscipline, and In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political ArgumentwillbepublishedbythePrincetonUniversityPressthreeyears afterhisdeathinJune2003.Bernardhelpedandencouragedmeincount- lesswaysinmypublishingcareer,bearingoutmyconvictionthateditors inuniversitypressesshouldbejudgedbytheirchoiceofadvisersaswell asbytheauthorstheypublish. Likemanywhoknewhim,IthoughtBernardwasindestructible—and so, I think, did he! But when he was recovering from the drastic effects of his first bout of treatment for cancer in 1999, we talked for the first, and almost the only, time about what should happen to his papers if he could not finish Truth and Truthfulness. Thankfully, that was published in2002,althoughhewouldhaveexpandeditinseveralwaysiftimehad not seemed so pressing. What I learned from this conversation was that Bernardhadnofaithinhis,oranyphilosopher’s,abilitytopredictwhose work would be of lasting interest to their successors. That was for the futuretodecide.So,althoughhewastotallyagainstwhathecalled“post- humous laundry lists,” he refused to express any other opinion about whatshouldbepublishedafterhisdeath.Fortunatelyforme,hedidspec- ify that, although I should handle the practicalities of publishing as I thought fit, he would ask “a young philosopher of gritty integrity and severity of judgement who understood the sorts of things he had been tryingtodoinphilosophy”tokeepmeonthephilosophicalstraightand narrow. That was Adrian Moore. I am deeply grateful to him for the careful consideration he has given to the complicated, general issues of publicationandre-publication,andforhisfriendship. Deciding on the content of this particular volume has been a heavy responsibility. It is painful to remember how much Bernard wanted to finish a book on this subject. He worked on it right up to the end. His “voice”comesthroughstronglyinthefilesandmanynotesanddraftson hiscomputer.Butthegoalhasbeentoselectfromtheunpublishedmate- rialonlythosepapersandlecturesBernardhimselfwouldhaveapproved viii • PatriciaWilliams forpublicationintheiruneditedform,andwithoutthecrucial“linking” material and additional topics he would have incorporated in the more ambitiousbookhewantedtowrite.Inparticular,heplannedtorelatehis work on political theory to his experience of political life in post-war BritainandAmerica. Geoffrey Hawthorn’s contribution to this project is due in small part to that missing “autobiographical” element. Throughout our years in Cambridge,heandBernardspentmanyenjoyablehoursdiscussinginter- ests they shared, politicsbeing one of the most importantto them both. IoweGeoffreyanenormousdebtfordevotingsomuchthoughtandtime tothisvolume. I should also like to thank those who advised and commented on the selection:AdrianMoore,ofcourse,andBarryStroudwhohaslongbeen my trusted friend and adviser on Bernard’s work. Thomas Nagel and SamuelScheffleralsohelpedtoshapethisbookincrucialways.Sadly,the notesBernard madeonhis numerousdiscussionswith RonaldDworkin over the years and, in particular, on the seminars they gave together in Oxford,thoughintelligible,werenotinpublishableform,norwereBer- nard’s contributions to the joint seminar he gave with Robert Post in Berkeley. But there are many signposts to their intellectual stimulus and influence. Myheartfeltthanks,also,toWalterLippincott,theDirectorofPrince- tonUniversityPress,andhisstaffin PrincetonandOxford,whosecom- mitmenttoBernardasanauthor,andtohighstandardsofediting,design, production, and marketing are so appreciated at a time when scholarly publishingfacessuchcomplexfinancialchallenges. • • • Finally,Ishouldliketoacknowledgethepublisherswhohavekindlygiven theirpermissiontopublishmaterialinthisvolume. • “In the Beginning Was the Deed” in Deliberative Democracy and Human Rights, ed. Harold Hongju Koh and Ronald C. Slye (New Haven:YaleUniversityPress,1999).©2000byYaleUniversity. • “Pluralism, Community and Left Wittgensteinianism” in Common Knowledge1,no.1(Durham:DukeUniversityPress,1992). • “TheLiberalismofFear.”WewouldliketothankWolfsonCollege, Oxford,forkindlyallowingustopublishthisarticle. • “FromFreedomtoLiberty:TheConstructionofaPoliticalValue”in PhilosophyandPublicAffairs30,no.1(Oxford:Blackwell’s,2001). • “TheIdeaofEquality”inPhilosophy,PoliticsandSociety,2ndser., ed.PeterLaslettandW.G.Runciman(Oxford:Blackwell’s,1962). Preface • ix • “Toleration, a Political or Moral Question?” in Dioge`ne 44, no. 4 (1996). The same article was published by Dioge`ne in French, En- glish,andArabic.
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