  The traditional ambition of philosophy, in epistemology and metaphysics, is to provide a systematic account of the extent and reliability of our knowledge, and on that basis, to provide a synoptic and well-based account of the main features of Reality. When Williams was in his prime, this ambition was largely repudiated as inappropriate or unattainable, and a much more modest role for philosophy was proposed. In setting forth his own position, in the preface to the collection of his selected essays (1966, p.viii), he lists some of these fashionable philosophies from the mid-twentieth century: 