From Analysis to Genealogy. Bernard Williams and the End of the Analytic-Continental Dicthotomy

Abstract

In this paper I want to show that Bernard Williams has contributed, especially with his ‘turn’ in Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, to the overcoming of the dichotomy between analytic and continental philosophy, creating a style of reflection in which conceptual analysis is deeply connected with historical awareness. The idea of genealogy, taken from Nietzsche but heavily modified by Williams, has then emerged, in such books as Shame and Necessity and Truth and Truthfulness, as an efficacious method for reflection for theoretical and practical philosophy.