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British philosopher, born in Westcliff, Essex, educated at Oxford, and taught at Oxford, London, Cambridge, and University of California, Berkeley. Williams distinguished modern moral philosophy from a more general conception of ethics. He criticized both Kantian and utilitarian moral philosophy because they claimed objective universality for their principles and pursued moral theory rather than taking account of each person's integrity and the projects central to individual ethical lives. He held that ethics should answer the Greek question of how we should live, and was influenced by Nietzsche's naturalism in working out his own response. His discussions on moral luck, integrity, the distinction between internal and external reasons, the distinction between thick and thin ethical concepts, personal identity and the self have initiated significant debates that have helped to shape contemporary ethics. His most important work is Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (1985) and other books include Morality: An Introduction to Ethics (1972), Utilitarianism: For and Against (with J. J. C. Smart) (1973), Problems of the Self (1973), Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry (1978), Moral Luck (1981), Shame and Necessity (1993), and Truth and Truthfulness (2002). ... log in or subscribe to read full text