On Bernard Williams Criticism Of Utilitarianism And Its Significance

Utilitarianism has been criticized constantly since its birth in the late 18 th and early 19 th century.Especially in the 1950 s,utilitarianism came back again and the academic circles began a new round of criticism.In this fierce criticism,Bernard Williams,a famous British ethicist,is well-known in academic circles for his unique perspective.However,the study of Williams' philosophy in domestic academic circles is still in its infancy.This paper attempts to explore the theoretical and practical significance of Williams' philosophy by combing his criticism of utilitarianism.At first,Williams directed the spearhead of his attack at the utilitarian happiness theory centered on desire and love,and put forward that the concept of good life is more suitable for the goal of life than happiness,but this criticism of utilitarianism is beside the mark.Later,he shifted the critical focus to utilitarianism's self-satisfied consequentialism,which criticized the indifference of consequentialism to personality.Williams did not stop criticizing like other scholars,but went further and discovered the principle of negative responsibility hidden in consequentialism.He thought that this principle not only caused confusion and ambiguity of responsible subjects,but also damages the integrity of the moral personality of subjects.Although some of Williams' philosophical ideas have been affirmed,there are doubts in the affirmative voice.However,these responses and denials do not effectively defend utilitarianism,nor refute Williams' views.Williams' criticism is the first "breaking" stage in the process of the revival of moral ethics,which makes the moral philosophy of Anskom and McIntyre develop in the right direction.This is exactly the theoretical significance of his criticism,reminding people that the essence of life should be a reflection on Socrates' question of "how a person should live".As emotions,circumstances and luck make life more complex,correct actions should take these three aspects into consideration,rather than adopting moral principles that are divorced from reality,regardless of human emotions and excluding luck.These two points are of realistic significance for criticism.