A student and close friend of Wittgenstein, Anscombe translated his work and later held his old chair at Cambridge. A convert to Catholicism, she publicly opposed Oxford giving an honorary degree to President Truman because of the atomic bombs. Her 1958 essay Modern Moral Philosophy attacked consequentialism and opened the way for the revival of virtue ethics.
Core ideas
Some acts, like killing the innocent, are wrong whatever the consequences
Ethics needs a clear account of intention, action and human nature
Talk of moral obligation makes little sense without the idea of a lawgiver
The tradition: Catholic analytic philosopher
Catholic analytic philosophy uses the precise tools of modern logic and language analysis to defend classical and Christian positions. Anscombe is its most formidable figure and a founder of contemporary virtue ethics.
