To my regret, I don’t remember much of the philosophy classes I mostly daydreamed through in college. Alas, plenty of ancient wisdom floated by me back when I was too young to absorb it. Yet a quote from the ethicist Bernard Williams has resurfaced in recent years and has started to haunt me. I’m paraphrasing, but Williams pointedly asks in one of his essays just what is the philosopher supposed to do if the thugs break into his...