Philosophy as a Humanistic Discpline

Prof Raimond Gaita (University of Melbourne)

Abstract: My title is stolen from Bernard Williams. In his paper of the same name he writes:

Philosophy’s aims, I have suggested, require that the work sound right, and so they demand an attention to one’s own words. In some dimensions, at least, this is an acknowledged ideal of the philosophical tradition, above all of analytical philosophy. Yet this attention has often been one-sided – one-eared, perhaps one might say. We encourage, rightly, a concern with whether it is true (and accurate, and so on), but less with whether it rings true. A good question, at least to start from, is whether what one has written is something that a grown-up, concerned, intelligent person might say to another about these subjects. Of course it is not the only question, and it does not always apply, since philosophy is not just ordinary conversation. Philosophy is, rather, in these fields, the extension of our most serious concerns by other means, but at least it should introduce our ordinary concerns in a humanly recognizable form. Of much philosophy purportedly about ethical or political subjects (and other kinds as well) one may reasonably ask: what if someone speaking to me actually sounded like that?

From the time of his earliest writings in ethics until his death, Williams said things of a similar kind, but he did not defend what said or even elaborate on what he meant. I shall try to explain, in my own way, why I think he was right.