In 1956, Oxford University planned to give an honorary degree to Harry Truman. Elizabeth Anscombe dissented. Truman authorized the dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anscombe did not deny that Truman’s decision saved lives by speeding up the end of the war. She denied that the end justified the means. We should think of this when we condemn other war crimes. Our country is not pure.
I get this example from the Wall Street Journal’s book review section this past weekend. Heather McAlpin reviewed Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman and The Women Are Up to Something by Benjamin Lipscomb. The four women are Anscombe, Philippa Foote, Mary Midgely, and Iris Murdoch. These four women wrote against the then dominant strain in moral philosophy, namely the view that moral values were subjective and not objective. It is a wonderful review. I came away with the impression that both books were worth reading. To my mind, the mystery is how philosophy could have sunk so low that it needed to be brought back to life.
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