The School of Political Science and Sociology research seminar: “Moral obligation as a conclusive reason: On Bernard Williams’ critique of the morality system”

The School of Political Science and Sociology invite you to a research seminar

with Dr Allyn Fives

(Discipline of Politics; Power, Conflict, and Ideologies research cluster) 

“Moral obligation as a conclusive reason: On Bernard Williams’ critique of the morality system” 

Bernard Williams’ critique of the morality system, as illustrated in his reading of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, is intended to show both that real moral conflicts can arise, and that a moral obligation is merely one reason among others and can be defeated by the thick concepts of a shared ethical life. I want to advance two lines of argument. First, when Williams argues that a moral obligation can be the locus of moral conflict, a further step is required to explain why one should feel regret for not acting on a defeated reason. Second, Williams presupposes that, when a conflict is resolved, the conclusive reason will be a thick concept, but there is no compelling justification for that assumption.

Please also find full paper at: Allyn_Fives_Bernard_Williams_Paper_2024.

All welcome!

Image: ‘At the feet of Athena, Greek warriors draw lots for the armour of Achilles’. Red figure Kylix, ca. 490 BCE. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Photo by Eric Lessing / Art Resource, NY.