Abstract

The topic of murder was among Elizabeth Anscombe’s central preoccupations. Drawing on both her published writings and newly available archival resources, this paper reconstructs Anscombe’s theory of murder. I show that Anscombe was concerned to deny the semantic thesis that “murder” means “killing that is unjustified or impermissible” and I show how her theory surmounts three challenges that seem to support the semantic thesis. In doing so, I discuss her views on responsibility, the significance of the distinction between intention and foresight, and the concept of a title to kill.