The Resonant Thought of G . E . Moore

Themes from G. E. Moore is a collection of sixteen new essays written by prominent contemporary philosophers. The essays explore a wide variety of themes arising from Moore's work in epistemology and ethics. The first eight essays in the collection are devoted to Moore's work in epistemology and include discussion of Moore's proof of an external world, skepticism, idealism, perceptual knowledge, and Moore's Paradox. The last eight essays concentrate on Moore's ethics and include discussion of the relation between ethics and practical reason, moral phenomenology, the Open Question Argument , naturalism in ethics, Utilitarianism, and Moore's theory of organic unities. This review will focus on essays that examine Moore's proof of an external world, Moore's Paradox, and the Open Question Argument. The collection begins with a substantial introduction from its editors, Susana Nuccetelli and Gary Sea. The introduction provides an insightful initial presentation of some of the central themes that are explored at length in the subsequent essays. The introduction also bridges many of the historical gaps between Moore's historical presentation of the themes and the contemporary incarnation of these themes in the context of twenty-first century philosophy. The essays themselves are, for the most part, less occupied in historical exegesis than in reexamining and reapplying some of Moore's primary arguments, doctrines, and philosophic methodologies in light of contemporary philosophic developments and controversies. The first six essays of the collection deal directly or indirectly with Moore's 1939 proof of an external world [Moore (1959)]. Moore's Proof proceeds by deducing the existence of an external material world from just two premises. The first premise is the empirically justified 'Here is a hand'.