# Rachael Wiseman

Rachael Wiseman is a British analytic philosopher. She has expounded the work of Elizabeth Anscombe and Ludwig Wittgenstein. In 2022, she was short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and won the 2022 HWA Non-Fiction Crown Award.

## Life

She lectures at University of Liverpool.
One of the co-founders of the Women in Parenthesis project.
Along with co-author Claire McCumhaill, she has argued that homo sapiens are "metaphysical animals", consciously extending the classic Aristotelian definition of "rational animal" to rebut the materialist anti-metaphysical bias of most 20th century philosophy.
She has correlated the absence of sound ethics and metaphysics in modern thought to the absence of women in philosophy, and has supported the hypothesis of Mary Midgely that both phenomena derive from the fact that most European philosophers have been bachelors.
She has argued for rejecting Sydney Shoemaker's reading of an influential passage from Wittgenstein's Blue Book as "Immunity to Error through Misidentification", holding that the passage reflects neither solipsism nor a purely detached stoicism, but rather "an expression of deep concern for the world, for living things, and for oneself as one object among many". She believes that Saul Kripke made a similar misreading in his rule-following considerations, in that both "mistake the interlocutors voice for Wittgenstein's own, and both generate a line of inquiry that is radically misdirected".

## Selected publications

* Wiseman, Rachael (2015-01-01). "Anscombe's Intention". Jurisprudence. 6 (1): 182–193. doi:10.5235/20403313.6.l.182 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN 2040-3313.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
* Wiseman, Rachael (2016). "The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Intention" (PDF). American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. 90 (2): 207–227. doi:10.5840/acpq201622982. Retrieved 2019-06-17. On 1st May 1956, Oxford University's Convocation ...considered nominations for honorary degrees ... One of the nominations was Harry S. Truman ... Anscombe ..."caused a small stir" ... by arguing that the nomination should be rejected on the grounds that Truman was guilty of mass murder ... Anscombe's speech did not persuade ...The House was asked to indicate its attitude toward the nomination, and showed overwhelming support. ... On 20th June, Truman was awarded his honorary degree
* Mac Cumhaill, Clare; Wiseman, Rachael (2022). Metaphysical animals : how four women brought philosophy back to life. London. ISBN 978-0-385-54570-9. OCLC 1289274891.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Great Thinkers: Jane Heal FBA on Elizabeth Anscombe FBA British Academy blog podcast with Rachael Wiseman (13 May 2019)
* Wiseman, Rachael (December 2019). "The Misidentification of Immunity to Error through Misidentification". The Journal of Philosophy. CXVI (12): 663–677. doi:10.5840/jphil20191161242. S2CID 213512230.

## References and notes

* ↑ Elmajdoubi, Halima (2023-02-23). "Metaphysical Animals by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Ling Ma, Isaac Butler and Morgan Talty among National Book Critics Circle Award winners". Los Angeles Times. 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Historia interviews: 2022 Non-fiction Crown Award winners Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman – Historia Magazine". www.historiamag.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Rachael Wiseman - University of Liverpool". www.liverpool.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Rachael Wiseman – The Aristotelian Society". Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "About Rachael Wiseman". The Integrity Project. 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Rachael Wiseman". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
* ↑ Wiseman 2019, pp. 663, 677.
* ↑ Elmajdoubi, Halima (2023-02-23). "Metaphysical Animals by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Oxford Quartet: The Women Who Took On the Philosophical Establishment (Published 2022)". 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ "Metaphysical Animals by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman and The Women Are Up to Something by Benjamin Lipscomb | Issue 151 | Philosophy Now". philosophynow.org. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
* ↑ Walsh, John (2023-08-15). "Metaphysical Animals by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachel Wiseman review — the Oxford women who shook up philosophy". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-08-15.