Abstract

In this article I aim to show that one of the criticisms that have been leveled at Williams’s Basic Legitimation Demand, the one that states that it rests on a moral presupposition – that of the equal worth of persons – arises out of a misreading of his realist politics. For this purpose, I will start by sketching Williams’s critique of moralism in ethics, which will serve as the basis of later analyzing his realist critique of moralism in politics. Once William’s arguments have been laid out I will proceed to show that what has been interpreted as the moral presupposition on which he builds his whole project, is nothing more but a misreading of Williams’s purposes.