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On Anscombe on Practical Knowledge and practical truth
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Campbell, Lucy (2022) On Anscombe on Practical Knowledge and practical truth. In: Teichmann, Roger, (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe. Oxford Handbooks . Oxford : Oxford University Press, pp. 7-32. ISBN 9780190887353
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190887353.013...
Abstract
A central idea in Anscombe's philosophy of action is that of practical knowledge, the formally distinctive knowledge a person has of what she is intentionally doing. Anscombe also discusses 'practical truth', an idea she borrows from Aristotle, and which on her interpretation is a kind of truth whose bearer is not thought or language, but action. What is the relationship between practical knowledge and practical truth? What we might call the 'Simple View' of this relationship holds that practical knowledge is essentially knowledge of practical truth. But the Simple View isn't obviously available, since we have practical knowledge of all of our intentional actions, whereas an action manifests practical truth in Aristotle's sense only if it is a case of doing or living well. I suggest that we distinguish a thicker ethical version and a thinner action-theoretical version of each notion. This allows us to maintain a - complex - version of the Simple View, on which practical knowledge in the thick ethical sense is knowledge of practical truth in the thick ethical sense, and practical knowledge in the thin action-theoretical sense is knowledge of practical truth in the thin action-theoretical sense. Although Anscombe did not make these distinctions explicitly, I argue that she nevertheless commits herself to them in her discussion.
Item Type: | Book Item | ||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Philosophy | ||||||
Series Name: | Oxford Handbooks | ||||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||
Place of Publication: | Oxford | ||||||
ISBN: | 9780190887353 | ||||||
Book Title: | The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe | ||||||
Editor: | Teichmann, Roger | ||||||
Official Date: | 18 August 2022 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Number of Pages: | 520 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 7-32 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190887353.013.1 | ||||||
Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | Campbell, Lucy, 'On Anscombe on Practical Knowledge and Practical Truth', in Roger Teichmann (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe, Oxford Handbooks (2022; Oxford Academic) pp. 7-32, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190887353.013.1 | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 7 July 2021 | ||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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