Linguistic Idealism and Human Essence

Abstract

Abstract When Anscombe says in ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ that we should jettison talk of ‘moral obligation’, ‘moral duty’, and ‘moral ought’, she is thinking in part about the ‘use of modal notions’ that is characteristic of a statement of a rule, right, or promise. She thinks that this use is associated with a kind of necessity that depends for its existence on human linguistic practice. The character of this dependence makes associated concepts of obligation and duty poor candidates for the role we want them to perform in moral philosophy when we speak of moral obligation and moral duty. Instead of using modal notions associated with these concepts, Anscombe suggests, we should look to modal notions a use of which is connected to human essence.