Williams Theory Of Personal Integrity

The meaning of life has always been an important issue in ethics.Modern moral philosophy,represented by utilitarianism and deontology,puts much emphasis on moral obligation and rules and insists that they are more important than personal good life.Williams criticizes that such ethical theories misunderstand the sophisticated ethical life for that morality is not overriding.Many other considerations,apart from morality,are also important.What’s more,the question that how should one live should be reflected on from the first-person perspective.Williams,therefore,puts forward and develops the theory of integrity.Everyone has his deepest promises,values and life projects,which constitute his character and his identity,that he takes seriously.In doing so he gets his life meaning.One will be alienated from his life projects if he is deprived of most of the above.Thus,his integrity is violated and his life meaning is lost.Williams derives his thoughts from many other ideas in history.Ancient Greek literature and philosophy,as well as modern philosophy,enlighten him.The paper takes the internalization of self-understanding as the main thread and focuses on the unity of body and mind,which influences Williams’ idea of ascribing action responsibility,in ancient Greek literature.The inclination to ask for internal elements to explain things from Plato to Augustine has influence on Williams’ putting forward internal reasons.Besides that,the ideas of authenticity of Rousseau’s and Diderot’s inspire Williams.Many scholars question Williams’ theory of integrity.On one hand,his content of integrity is criticized,such as by John Cottingham,as being based on subjective value.Cottingham admits that integrity is important.He,however,thinks that the content of integrity should be based on objective value and guided by the good ones.On the other,his integrity theory is criticized,such as by Elizabeth Ashford and Xu Xiangdong,that it lacks the moral restriction.Ashford thinks that integrity should be based on objective reality.Moral responsibility is objective so that we should take on the corresponding moral responsibility.Xu Xiangdong thinks integrity should be restricted by generally-acknowledged moral criterion.Besides criticism,some scholars support his integrity theory.On one hand,utilitarianism acknowledges the importance of personal projects and tries to accommodate integrity by mediating the conflicts between personal projects and morality.On the other,Harry Frankfurt puts forward integrated self.It requires a person to determine what he wants most by reconciling the conflicting desires within himself.In the last section of the essay,the author points out that the core of integrity is authenticity.Integrity is revealed through action,which is acknowledged by the individual,that flows from authenticity.Although Williams’ theory of integrity is unclear in some aspects,he faces the complexity of ethical life,trying to illustrate that it is distortion of complicated ethical life through systematic and abstract theories,and thinks that we should reflect on ethical life from the first-person perspective.His integrity theory and the research method it adopts have certain guiding and reference significances for the development of contemporary Chinese ethics and the construction of social values.