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1、ECommentaryontheTextA.W.Moore1IntroductionEthicsandtheLimitsofPhilosophyisbyfairlycommonconsentBernardWilliams’greatestwork.Itcertainlyservesasthelocusclassicusforhisideasinmoralphilosophy.WhenWilliams?rstbegantowriteinthisarea,intheearly1960s,thesubjecthadforsometimebeenembroil
2、edinabstractsecond-orderdebatesaboutmorallanguage,forinstanceaboutwhetheranactofmoralcon-demnation,suchastellingsomeone,“Itwasreprehensibleofyoutodothat,”involvedmakinganygenuineassertion.Williamswaskeentore-establishcontactwiththerealconcernsthatanimateourordinaryethicalexperie
3、nce.EthicsandtheLimitsofPhilosophyisinmanyrespectstheculminationofawonderfullysuccessfulcrusadetodojustthat.Itshowsadmirablyhowmuchmoralphil-osophycanachieve.Thereisaprofoundirony,therefore,inthefactthatoneofthemainthemesofthebook,advertisedinthesecondhalfofitstitle,ishowlittlem
4、oralphilosophycanachieve.Inparticular,moralphilosophycannotdelivertheverythingthatmighthavebeenexpectedofit,atheorytoguideethicalreasoning.Whatitcandoistoassisttheself-understandingofthosewhoseethicalreasoningalreadyhasguidancefromelsewhere.Thatis,itcanhelptoprovideacritiqueofli
5、vedethicalexperience.Andthat,asalludedtointhe?rsthalfofthebook’stitle,ispreciselywhatWilliamswantsittodointhesepages.204EthicsandtheLimitsofPhilosophyWilliamsusesboththePrefaceandthePostscripttore?ectonvariousfacetsofhisachievement.Hedrawsattentioninbothcasestotheapparentparadox
6、thatalthoughhetakes“thedemandsofthemodernworldonethicalthought[tobe]unprecedented”(p.v),healsotakesmodernethicalthoughttobelesswellequippedtomeetthesedemandsthanancientethicalthought.ThisisoneoftwoprincipalpointsthathemakesinthePreface.Thesecondisapointaboutstyle,namelythathisbo
7、okmayfairlybedescribedasaworkin“analytical”philosophy.Notthatheismuchconcernedaboutthat.Heismoreconcerned,ashefurtherindicates,aboutwhetherhisbookhasthevirtuemostprizedbyanalyticalphilosophy:clarity.Ithasakindofclarity.Butitdoesnothavethekindofclaritythatmakesforeasyreading.Will
8、iamsneverbelabourstheobvious;andherarelymakesex
