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“For several decades Anselm Müller’s name has been well known to those working in certain areas of practical philosophy, but very little of his output has been available in English. This excellent and welcome collection of papers discussing his contributions will help to change that situa- tion. Müller has much to teach us about the work of Aristotle, Aquinas, Wittgenstein and Anscombe.” Jonathan Dancy, University of Texas at Austin, USA “Anselm Müller is one of the most perceptive, original, profound, and intellectually honest philosophers alive today. In particular, his work in ethics and on practical rationality is without peer in recent decades, and in addition constitutes an essential contribution to neo-Aristotelian thought. This volume is a very timely celebration of Müller’s philosophy, the first of its kind, with contributions by luminaries and new voices alike” Roger Teichmann, St Hilda’s College, Oxford, UK Teleological Structures in Human Life This is the first collection of essays devoted to the thought of Anselm W. Müller. It brings to the attention of the English-speaking world an influential and highly regarded philosopher who has made important contributions to a wide range of philosophical debates. Arguably, Müller’s most important contributions are to the philosophy of action and virtue ethics. The contributors, who include friends, col- leagues, and former students, engage with different aspects of Müller’s thought in these areas. Subjects include his interpretation of Aristotle and Wittgenstein, the teleology of thought and action, the Aristotelian dis- tinction between poiēsis and praxis and its application to ethical upbringing, and the possibility of practical knowledge and practical truth. Teleological Structures in Human Life will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working on virtue ethics, philosophy of action, and practical reasoning. Christian Kietzmann is Assistant Professor at Friedrich-Alexander- Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He has published on the philosophy of action, the nature or normativity, philosophical anthropology, and the philosophies of Aristotle and G.E.M. Anscombe. His book Handeln aus Gründen als praktisches Schliessen was published in 2019. Routledge Festschrifts in Philosophy Mind, Language and Morality Essays in Honor of Mark Platts Edited by Gustavo Ortiz Millán and Juan Antonio Cruz Parcero Sensations, Thoughts, Language Essays in Honor of Brian Loar Edited by Arthur Sullivan Common Sense Metaphysics Essays in Honor of Lynne Rudder Baker Edited by Luis R. G. Oliveira and Kevin Corcoran Wittgenstein and Beyond Essays in Honour of Hans-Johann Glock Edited by Christoph C. Pfisterer, Nicole Rathgeb, and Eva Schmidt Teleological Structures in Human Life Essays in Honor of Anselm W. Müller Edited by Christian Kietzmann For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Festschrifts-in-Philosophy/book- series/RFSP Teleological Structures in Human Life Essays in Honor of Anselm W. Müller Edited by Christian Kietzmann First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Christian Kietzmann; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Christian Kietzmann to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechani- cal, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifica- tion and explanation without intent to infringe. ISBN: 978-0-367-56798-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-60863-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-10077-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003100775 Typeset in Sabon by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive) Contents Introduction 1 CHRISTIAN KIETZMANN 1 Wittgenstein and Aristotle at Oxford 15 ANTHONY KENNY 2 Anscombe on the Voluntary Character of Negligence 26 JENNIFER A. FREY 3 Practical Reasoning and Practical Truth 42 A. W. PRICE 4 Conscience and Praxis 62 GAVIN LAWRENCE 5 Having the Meaning of Life in View 90 ULF HLOBIL 6 Should Intro Ethics Make You a Better Person? 113 KATHARINA NIESWANDT 7 Ethical Naturalism and the Guise of the Good 135 DAWA OMETTO 8 On the Mystical Point of Virtue 159 TIMO-PETER ERTZ 9 Is Moral Education a Craft? Poiesis, Praxis, and Ethical Upbringing 177 MICAH LOTT viii Contents 10 Certainty and Possibility 200 P. M. S. HACKER 11 Grounding and Support: Foundations, Coherence, and “Deep Disagreement” in Ludwig Wittgenstein 217 ANDREAS KREBS Bibliography of A. W. Müller 227 Index 234 Introduction Christian Kietzmann Anselm Winfried Müller is one of the most profound and most original thinkers of his generation. Müller’s talent was recognized in the 1960s when he studied and taught at Oxford among an exceptionally bright and gifted cohort of students. At the time, he was offered a career at Oxford, but—for personal reasons—declined and later joined the staff of the University of Trier in Germany. In subsequent years, he published several books and a substantial number of papers in German—which, however, remained virtually unknown in the English-speaking world. He also published papers in English from time to time, and some of them, such as “How Theoretical Is Practical Reason?” and “Radical Subjectivity,” have been frequently cited. Nevertheless, for a long time, he and his work have remained something of an insider tip.1 Fortunately, this is changing. For a few years now, there has been renewed interest in his work. No doubt this is in part due to the renais- sance of the work of his teacher and friend G.E.M. Anscombe and in part due to a sustained interest in neo-Aristotelian accounts in ethics, to which Müller has made important contributions. But it is also due to the fact that Müller has been a recurrent visiting professor at the University of Chicago, where he has had the chance to influence a new generation of English-speaking philosophers. Over the past ten years, there have been conferences in his honor in Chicago and at the Universities of Basel (Switzerland) and Leipzig (Germany). And last but not least, his scattered English publications, as well as some new work, will soon be published in two volumes of collected papers. Müller has worked on a wide range of topics, including metaphysics (causation, the first person, identity), the history of philosophy (Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Wittgenstein, G.E.M. Anscombe), and the work of some contemporaries (John L. Mackie, Philippa Foot, Arthur N. Prior, Michael Dummett, Peter T. Geach). Arguably, his most important contributions are to the philosophy of action and so-called virtue ethics.2 Within an Aristotelian framework, he investigates the nature of practical thought, the teleologies characteristic of mental life—in particular, the varieties of teleology involved in practical thinking—and the possibility DOI: 10.4324/9781003100775-1