Anscombe G(ertrude) E(lizabeth) M(argaret) (b. 1919), English philosopher who has held positions at Oxford and Cambridge, best known for her work in the philosophy of mind and for her editions and translations of Wittgenstein’s later writings. Anscombe studied philosophy with Wittgenstein and became closely associated with him, writing An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (1959). She is married to Peter Geach.
Anscombe’s first major work was Intention (1957). She argues that the concept of intention is central to our understanding of ourselves as rational agents. The basic case is that of the intentions with which we act. These are identified by the reasons we give in answer to why-questions concerning our actions. Such reasons usually form a hierarchy that constitutes a practical syllogism of which action itself is the conclusion. Hence our intentions are a form of active practical knowledge that normally leads to action. Anscombe compares the direction of fit of this kind of knowledge with a shopping list’s relation to one’s purchases, and contrasts it with the direction of fit characteristic of a list of these purchases drawn up by an observer of the shopper. She maintains that the deep mistake of modern (i.e., post-medieval) philosophy has been to think that all knowledge is of this latter, observational, type. This conception of active knowledge expressed through an agent’s intentions conflicts with the passive conception of rationality characteristic of Hume and his followers, and Anscombe develops this challenge in papers critical of the is–ought distinction of Hume and his modern successors. In a famous paper, ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ (1958), she also argues that ought-statements make sense only in the context of a moral theology that grounds morality in divine commands. Since our culture rejects this theology, it is no surprise that ‘modern moral philosophers’ cannot find much sense in them. We should therefore abandon them and return to the older conceptions of practical rationality and virtue. These conceptions, and the associated conception of natural law, provide the background to an uncompromising defense of traditional Catholic morality concerning sexuality, war, and the importance of the distinction between intention and foresight. Anscombe has never been afraid of unpopular positions – philosophical and ethical. Her three volumes of Collected Papers (1981) include a defense of singular causation, an attack on the very idea of a subject of thought, and a critique of pacifism. She is one of the most original and distinctive English philosophers of her generation. See also ACTION THEORY, DIRECTION OF FIT, HUME , INTENTION , NATURAL LAW, WITTGENSTEI. T.R.B.