Anscombe reading Aristotle

Under one particular reading of it, Anscombe's 'Modern Moral Philosophy' is considered a seminal text in the revival of virtue ethics. Seen thus, Anscombe is implying that it is possible to do ethics without using concepts such as 'moral ought' or 'moral obligation'...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Cadilha, Susana
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:220994
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/220994
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.5565/rev/enrahonar.1276
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:"Modern moral philosophy"
Aristotelian ethics
Virtue ethics
Moral naturalism
Ètica aristotèlica
Ètica de la virtut
Naturalisme moral
Philippa Foot
John McDowell
Ética aristotélica
Ética de la virtud
Naturalismo moral
Descripción
Sumario:Under one particular reading of it, Anscombe's 'Modern Moral Philosophy' is considered a seminal text in the revival of virtue ethics. Seen thus, Anscombe is implying that it is possible to do ethics without using concepts such as 'moral ought' or 'moral obligation', the perfect example being Aristotelian ethics. On the other hand, Anscombe claims that it is not useful at present to engage in moral philosophy since she finds that 'philosophically there is a huge gap… which needs to be filled by an account of human nature, human action, …and above all of human "flourishing"' (Anscombe, 1958: 18). The gap Anscombe refers to appears where there should be a 'proof that an unjust man is a bad man'. My aim in this paper is to discuss the various ways in which Anscombe's theses can be interpreted, recalling two other philosophers for whom Aristotelian virtue ethics was also essential: P. Foot and J. McDowell. I will argue that Anscombe did not expect Aristotelian ethics to answer the problems modern ethics poses.