Anscombe on Money, Debt, and Usury

Abstract

G. E. M. Anscombe gave a lecture in 1970 on the shift in attitudes toward usury between medieval and modern times. Over the course of this lecture she says a great deal about the ontology of money. Although she seems less than completely aware of the fact, her discussion marks the difference between a Roman conception of money, according to which money’s proper use destroys it, and Marx’s analysis of capitalist money, which, like a cancer, can grow endlessly. I analyze this discussion of money, identify some of its shortcomings, and connect Anscombe’s lecture to earlier, more familiar strands in her thought.