Elizabeth Anscombe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential thinker who rejuvenated moral philosophy in the postwar period.
In 1956 Oxford University awarded an honorary degree to the former US president Harry S. Truman for his role in ending the Second World War. One philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe (1919 – 2001), objected strongly.
She argued that although dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have ended the fighting, it amounted to the murder of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. It was therefore an irredeemably immoral act. And there was something fundamentally wrong with a moral philosophy that didn’t see that.
This was the starting point for a body of work that changed the terms in which philosophers discussed moral and ethical questions in the second half of the twentieth century.
A leading student of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Anscombe combined his insights with rejuvenated interpretations of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas that made these ancient figures speak to modern issues and concerns. Anscombe was also instrumental in making action, and the question of what it means to intend to do something, a leading area of philosophical work.
With
Rachael Wiseman, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool
Constantine Sandis, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, and Director of Lex Academic
Roger Teichmann, Lecturer in Philosophy at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford
Producer: Luke Mulhall
Last on
Featured
.
Links and further reading
CONTRIBUTORS
Roger Teichmann of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford
Rachael Wiseman of the University of Liverpool
Constantine Sandis of the University of Hertfordshire and Director of Lex Academic
READING LIST
G.E.M. Anscombe, Intention (first printed 1957; Harvard University Press, 2000)
G.E.M. Anscombe, Mr Truman's Degree (privately published pamphlet, 1957)
G.E.M. Anscombe, ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ (Philosophy 33, 1958)
Benjamin J.B. Lipscomb, The Women are up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life (Chatto 2022)
Mary Midgley, The Owl of Minerva: A Memoir (Routledge, 2007)
John Schwenkler, Anscombe’s Intention: A Guide (Oxford University Press, 2019)
Roger Teichmann, The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Roger Teichmann (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe (Oxford University Press, 2022)
Roger Teichmann, Logos and Life: Essays on Mind, Action, Language and Ethics (Anthem Press, 2022), especially chapter 8: 'Why "Why?"? Action, Reasons and Language'
Roger Teichmann, 'Are There Any Intrinsically Unjust Acts?' (Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie, Oct. 2018)
Mary Warnock, A Memoir: People and Places (Duckworth, 2002)
Rachael Wiseman, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Anscombe's Intention (Routledge, 2017)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (eds. P. M. S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte), Philosophical Investigations (first published 1953; Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
RELATED LINKS
- G.E.M. Anscombe 1919 – 2001 - British Academy biography
- G.E.M. Anscombe by Eric Wiland - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Broadcasts
- Thu 22 Jun 202309:00BBC Radio 4
- Thu 22 Jun 202321:30BBC Radio 4
Featured in...
![]()
Philosophy—In Our Time
From Altruism to Wittgenstein, philosophers, theories and key themes.
In Our Time podcasts
Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.
The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10
If you’re new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.
Arts and Ideas podcast
Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.
Podcast
![]()
In Our Time
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.
Related Content
