Intention

Introduction

Anscombe’s monograph of under a hundred pages appeared in 1957, the year after she had publicly opposed Oxford’s honorary degree for President Truman, whom she held responsible for the atomic bombings. Its fifty-two sections approach intention through the question “Why?”: an action is intentional under those descriptions for which this question, asking for a reason, has application. One example is a man pumping water into a house, who may at the same time be moving his arm, operating a pump and poisoning the inhabitants. Anscombe also describes the practical knowledge we have of our own actions without observation. Donald Davidson called it the most important treatment of action since Aristotle.

Connections

Builds on

• Nicomachean Ethicsc. 340 BCE · Aristotle
• Philosophical Investigations1953 · Ludwig Wittgenstein

Taken up in

• The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect1967 · Philippa Foot
• Explanation and Understanding1971 · Georg Henrik von Wright

Criticized in

• Actions, Reasons, and Causes1963 · Donald Davidson

More works by G. E. M. Anscombe

• 1958Modern Moral Philosophy