Abstract

Elizabeth Anscombe tangos with Hume in the middle of her march toward the three theses of "Modern Moral Philosophy" that we should abandon moral philosophy "until we have an adequate philosophy of psychology"; that the concepts of moral obligation and moral duty, of what is morally right and wrong, and of the moral sense of 'ought' "ought to be jettisoned if this is psychologically possible;" and that "the differences between the well-known English writers on moral philosophy from Sidgwick to the present day are of little importance." But the tango could have been a waltz: Hume could embrace at least the first two theses with pleasure. Indeed, Hume pursues the kind of philosophy of psychology that Anscombe recommends and offers resources for developing her reflections on the relationship between happiness, human need, and our particular desires.