Free delivery worldwide

12%
off

Shame and Necessity

4.1 (107 ratings by Goodreads)

By (author) Bernard Williams , Foreword by A. A. Long

US$26.11 US$29.96 You save US$3.85

Free delivery worldwide

Available. Dispatched from the UK in 1 business day
When will my order arrive?

Add to basket Add to wishlist

Description

We tend to suppose that the ancient Greeks had primitive ideas of the self, of responsibility, freedom, and shame, and that now humanity has advanced from these to a more refined moral consciousness. Bernard Williams' original and radical book questions this picture of Western history. While we are in many ways different from the Greeks, Williams claims that the differences are not to be traced to a shift in these basic conceptions of ethical life. We are more like the ancients than we are prepared to acknowledge, and only when this is understood can we properly grasp our most important differences from them, such as our rejection of slavery. The author is a philosopher, but much of his book is directed to writers such as Homer and the tragedians, whom he discusses as poets and not just as materials for philosophy. At the center of his study is the question of how we can understand Greek tragedy at all, when its world is so far from ours. Williams explains how it is that when the ancients speak, they do not merely tell us about themselves, but about ourselves. In a new foreword A.A. Long explores the impact of this volume in the context of Williams' stunning career.show more

Product details

Format Paperback | 280 pages
Dimensions 149.86 x 223.52 x 20.32mm | 340.19g
Publication date 15 Apr 2008
Publisher University of California Press
Publication City/Country Berkerley, United States
Language English
Edition Revised
Edition statement 2nd Revised edition
ISBN10 0520256433
ISBN13 9780520256439
Bestsellers rank 114,985

23%
off

50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know

Ben Dupré

31 Jul 2014

Hardback

US$12.01 US$15.62

Save US$3.61

Add to basket

9%
off

Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy

Rene Descartes

04 Oct 2011

Paperback

US$20.75 US$22.99

Save US$2.24

Add to basket

22%
off

Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline

Bernard Williams

27 Jan 2008

Paperback

US$24.76 US$31.95

Save US$7.19

Add to basket

15%
off

The Don Giovanni Moment

Lydia Goehr

04 Sep 2006

Hardback

US$80.74 US$95.00

Save US$14.26

Add to basket

15%
off

Essential Sources in the Scientific Study of Consciousness

Bernard J. Baars

29 May 2003

Paperback

US$94.45 US$112.01

Save US$17.56

Add to basket

19%
off

Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy

Bernard Williams

01 Jul 2006

Hardback

US$116.71 US$145.00

Save US$28.29

Add to basket

Other books in Philosophy

31%
off

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Marie Kondo

14 Oct 2014

Hardback

US$11.68 US$17.00

Save US$5.32

Add to basket

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

30 May 2006

Paperback

US$4.92

Add to basket

54%
off

The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus

01 Oct 2005

Paperback

US$5.05 US$11.01

Save US$5.96

Add to basket

The Prince

Niccolo Machiavelli

21 Sep 1992

Paperback

US$3.24

Add to basket

16%
off

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Robert M. Pirsig

01 May 2006

Paperback

US$6.69 US$7.98

Save US$1.29

Add to basket

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

18 Oct 2011

Paperback

US$6.51

Add to basket

16%
off

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

Haemin Sunim

23 Feb 2017

Hardback

US$10.86 US$13.01

Save US$2.15

Add to basket

36%
off

On the Shortness of Life

Seneca

02 Sep 2004

Paperback

US$4.98 US$7.89

Save US$2.91

Add to basket

Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

Henry David Thoreau

01 Aug 1995

Paperback

US$4.83 US$5.00

Save US$0.17

Add to basket

25%
off

Meditations

Martin Hammond

18 Nov 2015

Paperback

US$8.15 US$11.01

Save US$2.86

Add to basket

24%
off

The Daily Stoic

Ryan Holiday

27 Oct 2016

Paperback

US$9.77 US$13.01

Save US$3.24

Add to basket

Other books in this series

12%
off

Shame and Necessity

Bernard Williams

15 Apr 2008

Paperback

US$26.11 US$29.96

Save US$3.85

Add to basket

15%
off

Laughter in Ancient Rome

Mary Beard

09 Nov 2015

Paperback

US$15.98 US$18.95

Save US$2.97

Add to basket

The Ancient Economy

M. I. Finley

01 Mar 1999

Paperback

US$35.14

Add to basket

15%
off

Sallust

Ronald Syme

05 Jun 2002

Paperback

US$31.17 US$36.95

Save US$5.78

Add to basket

Fergus Millar

20 Aug 2007

Paperback

US$31.44 US$34.96

Save US$3.52

Add to basket

Sir Frank E. Adcock

01 Jun 1974

Paperback

US$17.93 US$19.95

Save US$2.02

Add to basket

Pausanias

Christian Habicht

12 Jan 1999

Paperback

US$33.94 US$33.95

Save US$0.01

Add to basket

10%
off

Polybius

F. W. Walbank

01 Mar 1990

Paperback

US$30.54 US$33.95

Save US$3.41

Add to basket

12%
off

Re-Imagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage

Helene P. Foley

26 Jun 2014

Paperback

US$30.53 US$34.96

Save US$4.43

Add to basket

The Revolutions of Wisdom

G. E. R. Lloyd

01 Nov 1989

Paperback

US$43.59

Add to basket

15%
off

An Archaeology of Greece

A. M. Snodgrass

19 Jun 1992

Paperback

US$28.63 US$33.95

Save US$5.32

Add to basket

Homer the Preclassic

Gregory Nagy

24 Apr 2017

Paperback

US$34.94 US$34.96

Save US$0.02

Add to basket

About Bernard Williams

Bernard Williams (1929-2003) was one of the most distinguished British philosophers of the twentieth century, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University, and Monroe Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.show more

Rating details

107 ratings

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 40% (43)

4 36% (38)

3 20% (21)

2 4% (4)

1 1% (1)

Book ratings by Goodreads

Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers with over 50 million reviews. We're featuring millions of their reader ratings on our book pages to help you find your new favourite book. Close X

Top Authors

Bestselling Series

Popular Features

Shame and Necessity

Description

Product details

People who bought this also bought

Other books in Philosophy

Other books in this series

About Bernard Williams

Rating details

Follow us