G. E. M. Anscombe

Quotes

• “Christian life meant a separation from the standards of that world: you couldn't be a Baal-worshipper, you couldn't sacrifice to idols, be a sodomite, practice infanticide, compatibly with the Christian allegiance. That is not to say that Christians were good; we humans are a bad lot and our lives as Christians even if not blackly and grossly wicked are usually very mediocre.”
• “Those who try to make room for sex as mere casual enjoyment pay the penalty: they become shallow. At any rate the talk that reflects and commends this attitude is always shallow. They dishonour their own bodies; holding cheap what is naturally connected with the origination of human life.”
• “But we lay people are not less called to the Christian life, in which the critical question is: "Where does the compass-needle of your mind and will point?" This is tested above all by our reactions when it costs or threatens to cost something to be a Christian. One should be glad if it does, rather than complain! If we will not let it cost anything; if we succumb to the threat of "losing our life", then our religion is indistinguishable from pure worldliness.”

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Key facts

Born

Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe , ( 1919-03-18 ) 18 March 1919, Limerick , Ireland

Died

5 January 2001 (2001-01-05) (aged 81), Cambridge , England

Other name

Elizabeth Anscombe

Spouse

Peter Geach ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1941 ) ​

Education

St Hugh's College, Oxford ( BA ) Newnham College, Cambridge

Academic advisor

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Era

20th-century philosophy

Region

Western philosophy

School

Analytic philosophy Analytical Thomism

Institutions

University of Oxford

Notable students

Philippa Foot

Main interests

Ethics logic philosophy of action philosophy of language philosophy of mind

Notable works

Intention (1957) " Modern Moral Philosophy " (1958)

Notable ideas

Acting under a description Brute facts Coining " consequentialism " Direction of fit Modern revival of virtue ethics

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Wikidata facts

Image

Elisabeth Anscombe.jpg

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