An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
Bernard WilliamsRead
The people I really do dislike are the morally unimaginative kind of evolutionary reductionists who, in the name of science, think they can explain everything in terms of our early hominid ancestors or our genes, with their combination of high-handed tone and disregard for history. Such reductive speculation encourages a really empty scientism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes those who reduce complex human behavior to mere biological determinism.
In this quote, Bernard Williams expresses his disdain for individuals who, under the guise of scientific reasoning, simplify the intricacies of human morality and behavior to the evolutionary processes or genetic factors. He argues that this reductive approach lacks imagination and historical context, and ultimately leads to a superficial understanding of human nature that undermines ethical and moral considerations.
Themes
MoralityScienceEvolutionHistoryHuman BehaviorReductionism
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the limits of scientific explanation in understanding human nature.
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People have been predicting the death of philosophy since the 17th century. When I was a student, people were saying, 'We're in the last days of philosophy.' Then we were told in the '60s it would be replaced by sociology, then by literary criticism.
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Virtually the only subject in which one could ever get a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge was classics. So I went to Oxford to study classics and, unlike Cambridge, it had a philosophy component, and I became completely transported by it.
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