Here Is A Hand - Introduction

Introduction

G. E. Moore (1873—1958) wrote A Defence of Common Sense and Proof of an External World. He posed skeptical hypotheses, such as "you may be dreaming" or "the world is 5 minutes old", creating a situation where it is not possible to know that anything in the world exists. These hypotheses take the following form:

The skeptical argument

Where S is a subject, sp is a skeptical possibility, such as the brain in a vat hypothesis, and q is a knowledge claim about the world:

  • If S doesn't know that not-sp, then S doesn't know that q
  • S doesn't know that not-sp
  • Therefore, S doesn't know that q
Moore's response
  • If S doesn't know that not-sp, then S doesn't know that q
  • S knows that q
  • Therefore, S knows that not-sp

Moore does not attack the skeptical premise; instead, he reverses the argument from being in the form of modus ponens to modus tollens. This logical maneuver is often called a G. E. Moore shift or a Moorean shift.

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