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Summary Chapter 9 - Are there Absolute Moral Rules?
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Moral Philosophy 152 summary, written in 2016.
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Chapter 9 – Are there Absolute Moral Rules?9.1 Harry Truman and Elizabeth Anscombe
Harry Truman
o Man who dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
o Became president in 1945
o Plans had been drawn up to invade Japan but it would result in a Blood Bath
o Truman was at first reluctant to use the bomb
o Each bomb would take out an entire city
o Military targets, schools, hospitals, homes
o Not only soldiers would die - women, children, elders would also die
o Big issue was the impact that the bomb would have on noncombatants
o USA actually condemned any attacks on civilian targets
o Roosevelt sent out letter denouncing the bombardment of cities by the
USA
o Truman agreed, he authorized the bombings – must use it so that military
objectives (soldiers and sailors) are the target, not innocent women and
children
o Truman knew that the bombs would destroy entire cities, but his main concern
was the noncombatants
o He was sure of his decision, Winston Churchill also said he was sure
Elizabeth Anscombe (Miss Anscombe)
o 20-year-old Oxford student when WW2 began
o She argued that Britain should not go to war because countries at war end up
fighting for unjust reasons
o She became one of the 20th centuries greatest philosophers and the greatest
woman philosopher ever
o She was Catholic, religion was central to her life
o In 1968 – Catholic churches banned contraception
o She wrote a pamphlet explaining why artificial birth control is immoral
o She was arrested for protesting outside a British abortion clinic
Harry Truman and Miss Anscombe conflict
o Crossed paths in 1956
o Oxford Uni was planning on giving Truman an honorary degree in thanks for
America’s wartime help
o Anscombe and 2 faculty members opposed this idea
o They lost, the degree was given to him
o She wrote another pamphlet
o Explaining that Truman was a murderer because he ordered the
bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
o He believed the bombings were justified – they shortened the war and saved
lives
o She wrote: “For men to choose to kill the innocent as a means to their ends, is
always murder”
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