A severe morality holds that intercourse (and may hold this of eating, too) has something wrong about it if it is ever done except explicitly as bein… - G. E. M. Anscombe
" "A severe morality holds that intercourse (and may hold this of eating, too) has something wrong about it if it is ever done except explicitly as being required for that preservation of human life which is what makes intercourse a good kind of action. But this involves thoroughly faulty moral psychology. God gave us our physical appetite, and its arousal without our calculation is part of the working of our sort of life. Given moderation and right circumstances, acts prompted by inclination can be taken in a general way to accomplish what makes them good in kind and there's no need for them to be individually necessary or useful for the end that makes them good kinds of action. Intercourse is a normal part of married life through the whole life of the partners in a marriage and is normally engaged in without any distinct purpose other than to have it, just as such a part of married life.
English
Collect this quote
About G. E. M. Anscombe
G. E. M. Anscombe (18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), born Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe, and also known as Elizabeth Anscombe, was an Irish-born British analytic philosopher. A student of Ludwig Wittgenstein, she became an authority on his work, and edited and translated many books drawn from his writings, above all his Philosophical Investigations. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, and ethics. Her monograph Intention (1957) is generally recognized as her greatest and most influential work. Anscombe also supports and takes a modern approach to Virtue Ethics, an ethical theory originated in Aristotle and developed by St Thomas Aquinas which focuses on the development of a virtuous (moral) AGENT rather than on performing moral ACTS. Anscombe approved of Aristotelian thinking, especially of the concept of eudamonia and of causes rather than reasons.
Also Known As
Birth Name:
Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe
Alternative Names:
Elizabeth Anscombe
•
(Gertrude) Elizabeth (Margaret) Anscombe
•
Elisabeth Anscombe
•
Gertrude E. M. Anscombe
Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.
Additional quotes by G. E. M. Anscombe
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.
You can argue truly enough, for example, that general respect for the prohibition on murder makes life more commodious. If people really respect the prohibition against murder life is pleasanter for all of us - but this argument is exceedingly comic. Because utility presupposes the life of those who are to be convenienced, and everybody perceives quite clearly that the wrong done in murder is done first and foremost to the victim, whose life is not inconvenienced, it just isn't there any more. He isn't there to complain; so the utilitarian argument has to be on behalf of the rest of us. Therefore, though true, it is highly comic and is not the foundation: the objection to murder is supra-utilitarian.
Try QuoteGPT
Chat naturally about what you need. Each answer links back to real quotes with citations.
Loading...