Human life, action and ethics: essays by G.E.M. Anscombe PDF
Preview Human life, action and ethics: essays by G.E.M. Anscombe
Contents Preface Luke Gormally Introduction Mary Geach Human Life 1 Analytical Philosophy and the Spirituality of Man 2 Has Mankind One Soul: An Angel Distributed Through Many Bodies? 3 Human Essence 4 Were You a Zygote? 5 Embryos and Final Causes 6 Knowledge and Reverence for Human Life 7 The Dignity of the Human Being Action and Practical Reason 8 Chisholm on Action 9 The Causation of Action 10 Practical Inference 11 Practical Truth Ethics 12 Does Oxford Moral Philosophy Corrupt Youth? 13 Modern Moral Philosophy 14 Good and Bad Human Action 15 Action, Intention and ‘Double Effect’ 16 The Controversy over a New Morality 17 Must One Obey One’s Conscience? 18 Glanville Williams’ The Sanctity of Life and the Criminal Law: A Review 19 Who is Wronged? Philippa Foot on Double Effect 20 Prolegomenon to a Pursuit of the Definition of Murder: The Il- legal and the Unlawful 21 Murder and the Morality of Euthanasia 22 Commentary on John Harris’ ‘Ethical Problems in the Manage- ment of Severely Handicapped Children’ 23 Sins of Omission? The Non-Treatment of Controls in Clinical Trials Human Life, Action and Ethics Essays by G.E.M. Anscombe Editedby MaryGeach andLukeGormally IMPRINTACADEMIC Copyright © M.C. Gormally, 2005 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. No part of any contribution may be reproduced in any form without permission, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion. Published in the UK by Imprint Academic PO Box 200, Exeter EX5 5YX, UK Published in the USA by Imprint Academic Philosophy Documentation Center PO Box 7147, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7147, USA Digital edition converted and distributed in 2011 by Andrews UK Limited www.andrewsuk.com Cover Photograph: St Salvator’s Quadrangle, St Andrews by Peter Adamson from the University of St Andrews collection For PeterGeach inhisninetiethyear MaryGeach,adaughterofElizabethAnscombeandherliterary executor, read Philosophy and Psychology at Somerville Col- lege, Oxford, and wrote her doctoral dissertation at New Hall, Cambridge.ShehastaughtphilosophyintheUSAandEngland, butinrecentyearshasdevotedhertimetoherfamilyandtofree- lancewriting. LukeGormallyisaSeniorResearchFellowofTheLinacreCentre for Healthcare Ethics, London, of which he was Director, 1981–2000,andaResearchProfessorofAveMariaSchoolofLaw, AnnArbor,Michigan.Heistheeditorofsixpreviousvolumes and the author of numerous papers, mostly in the field of bioethics. Preface ThreevolumesofCollectedPapersbyElizabethAnscombewere publishedin1981.1Thosevolumesbroughttogetheraselection ofpaperspreviouslypublishedbetween1947and1979,together with a small number of previously unpublished papers. The presentvolumeisthefirstofwhat,itishoped,willbeanumberof volumes bringing together a selection of hitherto uncollected published papers along with some unpublished ones.2 Human Life, Action and Ethics collects eighteen previously published papers, together with five that have not hitherto appeared in English;twoofthosehaveappearedinSpanish. Theworkofcollectingandpreparingthepapersforthepresent volumehasbeenbasedoninformationgatheredinthecourseof cataloguing Professor Anscombe’s papers filed in her study at herhomeinCambridge.Itshouldbeemphasisedthatthetaskof cataloguing,forwhichmyprincipaldutieshaveleftfewopportu- nities,isfarfromcomplete.Moreover,sinceProfessorAnscombe wasnotaverysystematiccollectorofherownpapers,itispossi- bletheremaybesomedepositedelsewhereofwhichshedidnot keep copies. So there may be other papers of hers in existence whichwouldhavequalifiedforinclusioninthisvolume. [1] TheCollectedPhilosophicalPapersofG.E.M.Anscombe.Volume1:FromParmenidesto Wittgenstein;Volume2:MetaphysicsandthePhilosophyofMind;Volume3:Ethics, ReligionandPolitics(Oxford:BasilBlackwell,1981). [2] ThecontentsofaprospectivevolumeonReligion,BeliefandPracticehavealready beenidentifiedthoughnotyetpreparedforpublication. x Human Life, Action and Ethics ThemainfocusofHumanLife,ActionandEthicsisonProfessor Anscombe’swritings inmoral philosophy.Thefirst partofthe volumecontainsanumberofpaperswithsomerelevancetoher understandingofthepropervaluationofhumanlife,atopicof fundamentalimportancetoherworkinmoralphilosophy.The second part contains two papers on the causation of human action,andpapersonpracticalinferenceandpracticaltruth.The thirdpartcollectstwelvepapers,rangingfrommoregeneraltop- icsinmoralphilosophytoparticularsubstantiveethicalissues. Wehaveincludedinthissectionthefamousandinfluential1958 paper on ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ which has already appearedinapreviousvolumeoftheCollectedPapers3andwhich hasbeenanthologisedinanumberofvolumes.Itisincludedhere forthebenefitofreadersnewtoProfessorAnscombe’sworkin moralphilosophy;areadingofitwillservetothrowlightona numberofotheritemsinthevolume. Onepointshouldbenotedaboutthepresentationofthepapers in thisvolume. Numberedfootnotesare Professor Anscombe’s own,thoughinsomecaseswhataremerelybibliographicaldata havebeenamplifiedbyme.Footnotesindicatedbyanasterisk(*) arebyme.Forthemostparttheyprovideinformationaboutthe originaloccasionofatextwhereIhavebeenabletoestablishthis; details about the original publication of previously published texts;andacknowledgementstocopyrightownersinthecaseof papersoverwhichProfessorAnscombedidnotretainthecopy- right. Very occasionally I have provided a footnote indicating alterations to previously published versions of the text where theseseemtometobeauthorisedbyalterationsandcorrections made in Professor Anscombe’shand tooffprints ortypescripts onfile.InaveryfewplacesIhaveinsertedanobviouslymissing word;theseinsertionsareindicatedbysquarebrackets. [3] InVolume3:Ethics,ReligionandPolitics,pp.26-42. Preface xi It remains to acknowledge debts incurred in the editing of thesepapers.IamverygratefultothetwoinstitutionstowhichI belong—TheLinacreCentreforHealthcareEthics,inLondon, and Ave Maria School of Law, in Ann Arbor, Michigan — for allowingmetofindtimetoworkonthisproject.Withouttheir moralandmaterialsupportitwouldhavebeenimpossible.Grat- itude is owing toProfessor John Haldane for suggesting inclu- sion of this volume in the series he is editing and thereby ensuring its appearance at a much earlier date than had previ- ouslyseemedlikely.Iamgratefultohimforalsoprovidinggen- erous support in the initial stages of compiling the volume. I would like to thank Jose Maria Torralba of the University of Navarre at Pamplona, who is doing research on Professor Anscombe’swork,for providingmewithcopiesof thetextsof lecturesshegaveathisuniversityinthe1970sand1980s. The greatest debt of gratitude is owing to Professor Peter Geach not only for providing ready access to Elizabeth Anscombe’spapersbutalsoforprovidinggenerousandconviv- ialhospitalityontheoccasionsonwhichIwasworkingonthem. InthelatterconnectionIowethanksalsotoMoreGeach. Finally,ithasbeenapleasureandaprivilegetoworkwithmy wifeineditingthiscollectionofhermother’spapers.Weareat one in dedicating this volume to her father as a token of filial affectioninhisninetiethyear. LukeGormally Introduction ‘Philosophy’,saidmymother,‘isthinkingaboutthemostdiffi- cultandultimatequestions’.Shedefinedhersubjectinthisway fortheuniversityprospectuswhenshewasaprofessoratCam- bridge, in the chair which had been occupied by her teacher, Wittgenstein. Some people might want to qualify the word ‘thinking’asitoccursinthisdefinition,butAnscombedidnotgo inforaspecial,differentkindofthinking:asherdaughter,com- inghomefromschool,Ilearnedfromthewayshemetmyown philosophicalproblems(problemsarisingnotfromphilosophy lessonsmostly,butfromconversationandfromtheschoolcur- riculum)thatphilosophywas,asIputittomyself,‘justthinking’ —merelythinkingaboutcertaintopics. SotoreadAnscombeyouneednokey,exceptwhensheisdis- cussingsometextindetail:thenithelpstohavethebookitself. However,youdohavetopaycloseattention.Herstylewasdense and unrepetitive, and it is hard to know sometimes whether it wouldbemoreclarificatorytogoontothenextsentence,orto returntothepreviousone.Shedoesnotcarrythereaderalong,as someauthorsdo(Newmanisanexample).Yetsomepeoplepre- fer her sort of writing, like the confection panforte, all fruit and nutsandnodough,verychewyandtough. Notalltheessayshereareequallydifficult,however.Shedid varyherstyleaccordingtoaudience.Oneworkherewasaradio talk. She was given the title ‘Does Oxford Moral Philosophy
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