Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
E382795
Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy is a 1985 book by Bernard Williams that critically examines the ambitions and methods of modern moral philosophy, arguing for a more historically and psychologically grounded understanding of ethical life.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy canonical | 1 |
| continuing the project begun in After Virtue | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3706316 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Context triple: [Bernard Williams, notableWork, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy]
-
A.
The Science of Ethics
The Science of Ethics is a major 19th-century philosophical work by Leslie Stephen that systematically examines moral philosophy and the foundations of ethical theory.
-
B.
Institutes of Moral Philosophy
Institutes of Moral Philosophy is an 18th-century treatise by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson that systematically explores ethics, human nature, and the principles of moral judgment.
-
C.
The Elements of Morality
The Elements of Morality is a 19th-century philosophical treatise by William Whewell that systematically explores ethical theory, moral duties, and the foundations of human conduct.
-
D.
Ethics for the New Millennium
Ethics for the New Millennium is a philosophical and spiritual book by the 14th Dalai Lama that outlines a universal, secular approach to compassion and moral living in the modern world.
-
E.
Outlines of Moral Philosophy
Outlines of Moral Philosophy is a foundational 18th-century work in moral philosophy by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Dugald Stewart, offering a systematic account of ethics, human nature, and moral reasoning.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Target entity description: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy is a 1985 book by Bernard Williams that critically examines the ambitions and methods of modern moral philosophy, arguing for a more historically and psychologically grounded understanding of ethical life.
-
A.
The Science of Ethics
The Science of Ethics is a major 19th-century philosophical work by Leslie Stephen that systematically examines moral philosophy and the foundations of ethical theory.
-
B.
Institutes of Moral Philosophy
Institutes of Moral Philosophy is an 18th-century treatise by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson that systematically explores ethics, human nature, and the principles of moral judgment.
-
C.
The Elements of Morality
The Elements of Morality is a 19th-century philosophical treatise by William Whewell that systematically explores ethical theory, moral duties, and the foundations of human conduct.
-
D.
Ethics for the New Millennium
Ethics for the New Millennium is a philosophical and spiritual book by the 14th Dalai Lama that outlines a universal, secular approach to compassion and moral living in the modern world.
-
E.
Outlines of Moral Philosophy
Outlines of Moral Philosophy is a foundational 18th-century work in moral philosophy by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Dugald Stewart, offering a systematic account of ethics, human nature, and moral reasoning.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ |
| advocates |
historically informed understanding of ethics
ⓘ
psychologically realistic ethics ⓘ |
| author | Bernard Williams ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| criticizes |
Kantian ethics
ⓘ
systematic moral theory ⓘ the aspiration to a theory of morality modeled on science ⓘ utilitarianism ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
the importance of personal projects
ⓘ
the limits of impartial moral theory ⓘ the role of character in ethics ⓘ the significance of moral luck ⓘ |
| genre |
ethics
ⓘ
moral philosophy ⓘ |
| hasKeyConcept |
critique of the morality system
ⓘ
external reasons for action ⓘ internal reasons for action ⓘ moral luck ⓘ practical identity ⓘ thick ethical concepts ⓘ |
| hasPart |
chapter on moral luck
ⓘ
chapter on morality and the self ⓘ chapter on practical necessity ⓘ chapter on the history of ethical thought ⓘ |
| influenced |
contemporary moral philosophy
ⓘ
debates on internal and external reasons ⓘ debates on moral luck ⓘ virtue ethics ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Aristotle
ⓘ
David Hume ⓘ Nietzsche ⓘ
linked to:
Friedrich Nietzsche
ancient Greek ethics ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
ethics
ⓘ
history of ethics ⓘ meta-ethics ⓘ moral philosophy ⓘ moral psychology ⓘ practical reason ⓘ |
| notableFor |
critique of systematic moral theory
ⓘ
defense of a more historically grounded ethics ⓘ influence on late 20th-century ethical theory ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1985 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Fontana Press
ⓘ
Harvard University Press ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Description of subject: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy is a 1985 book by Bernard Williams that critically examines the ambitions and methods of modern moral philosophy, arguing for a more historically and psychologically grounded understanding of ethical life.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy