Protesting with Elizabeth Anscombe
4.1 Opposing Calculative Ethics
For our last Quartet member, we turn to Elizabeth Anscombe and the pamphlet she wrote to protest US President Harry Truman’s honorary degree at Oxford University. To stop ourselves from falling into the trap of ‘either/or’ thinking that is often featured in hypothetical moral situations, Anscombe reminds us that some actions are wrong no matter what situation we are in.
*content warning: discussion of murder and some events in WWII
4.2 Opposing Pacifism
This episode explores another moral trap that Elizabeth Anscombe points out in her pamphlet on Truman’s degree. The particular brand of pacifism that she talks about works to get rid of the distinction between killing and murder; Anscombe thinks this is a dangerous move because murder becomes merely a way of killing and loses its sense of prohibition.
*content warning: discussion of murder and some events in WWII
4.3 Taking a Stand – a conversation
In this episode, Dr. Rachael Wiseman offers some context to Elizabeth Anscombe’s pamphlet ‘Truman’s Degree’.
*content warning: discussion of murder and some events in WWII
4.4 Anscombe and Double Effect – a conversation
Dr. Rachael Wiseman and I talk about why Elizabeth Anscombe does not agree with Philippa Foot’s arguments about the doctrine of double effect. For Anscombe, the doctrine of double effect does not say anything about what we should do; it tells us that there are some things we should not do.
*content warning: discussion of murder and some events in WWII, and brief comments on abortion
