G.E.M. Anscombe—War and Murder
By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 26, 2025 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)
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“Two attitudes are possible: one, that the world is an absolute jungle and that the exercise of coercive power by rulers is only a manifestation of this; and the other, that it is both necessary and right that there should be this exercise of power, that through it the world is much less of a jungle than it could possibly be without it, so that one should in principle be glad of the existence of such power, and only take exception to its unjust exercise.”
Elizabeth Anscombe was a prominent 20th-century British philosopher, known for her influential work in ethics and her deep commitment to Catholic doctrine. In her essay ‘War and Murder,’ Anscombe considers the morality of violent coercive power, critiques the influence of pacifist ideology, and defends the moral prohibition against killing the innocent—grounding her arguments in the principle of double effect and its crucial distinction between intended and foreseen consequences.
Read “War and Murder” https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring06/papers/anscombeWarAndMurder.pdf
Theme music: “2 Part Invention”, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.
James T. Majewski is Vice President of Trinity Communications, the “voice” of Catholic Culture Audiobooks, and co-host of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Based in New York City, he holds both a BA in Philosophy and an MFA in Acting. See full bio.
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