Politics and Authority in Bernard Williams

Abstract

In this paper I reconstruct and discuss some of the central ideas of Bernard Williams’ political philosophy, contained in his In the Beginning Was the Deed. In particular, I point out some minor weaknesses of his critique to (what he called) “Political Moralism” and develop his conception of political authority. Finally, I suggest that the form of political realism he proposes is closely related to a way of conceiving Legal Realism, which I call Normativist Legal Realism.