ABSTRACT
The hard problem of consciousness Anscombe’s work in the philosophy of mind should be read as a sustained critique of post-Cartesian treatments of that topic, one which takes Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations as its starting point and then develops detailed studies of psychological concepts alongside diagnoses of problems in the history of philosophy, in particular those which have their roots in Cartesian views of intention, Humean accounts of causation and empiricist understandings of sensation and desire. As such, it would not be misleading to say that Anscombe’s philosophy of mind in its entirety is concerned with diagnosing and undermining the philosophical framework within which the hard problem of consciousness is felt and articulated. Rather than making a hopeless attempt to summarise all of this material, I have limited my focus to one small area to which Anscombe gives her attention.
