Why did Bernard Williams think conceptual analysis alone was not enough for philosophy?

Bernard Williams believed that conceptual analysis alone was insufficient for philosophy because he viewed philosophy as a humanistic discipline aimed at achieving a deeper understanding of human life in its full complexity, contingency, and individuality.1

While Williams was trained in the tradition of ordinary language philosophy and met its rigorous standards for clarity and argument, he found that its focus on conceptual analysis was too narrow to capture the human point of view. He was suspicious of systematic theories, particularly in ethics, arguing that they often failed to account for the reality of human motivation and the importance of personal projects and relations.1

Instead of relying solely on the logical or linguistic investigation of concepts, Williams advocated for an approach that incorporates history and cultural context. He believed that understanding human nature requires historical self-exploration—such as the genealogical method—to provide distance from the present without abandoning the richness of the human perspective. Ultimately, he rejected the idea that philosophy should model itself after the objectivity and universality of the physical sciences, as he felt such an ambition was misguided when applied to the practical domain of how people should live.1