Anscombe on Dignity: a Practical Turn

Anscombe’s article «The Dignity of the Human Being» raises a question typical of science fiction: what would happen if the stage of gestation in the womb were to disappear? According to her, the fact that procreation is no longer organically anchored would mean that the question « to whom does this human belong?» could then be asked in a meaningful way. This article intends to show that the treatment of the hypothesis is exemplary of Anscombe’s reinterpretation of the Wittgensteinian principle that «essence is expressed in grammar». By shifting the question of dignity onto the terrain of grammar, Anscombe outlines what might be called a «practical turn» for dignity. Dignity is understood not by exhibiting theoretical presuppositions, but by knowing that there is an impossible question about the human, a question we should never be able to ask of each other. Keywords: ethics; E. Anscombe; essence; grammar; dignity; practices.