Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part One)
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
Mark Linsenmayer
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan.
Moore defends our pre-philosophical certainty in beliefs about the existence of physical objects and other minds against skeptics and idealists. Is his apparently simple argument effective or just glib?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the partially examined life of podcasts by some guys who are at one |
| 0:11.1 | point set on doing philosophy for living but then thought better of it. |
| 0:14.3 | Our question for episode 307 is something like, can we be certain of the existence of |
| 0:19.6 | the external world and if so how? |
| 0:21.8 | We read two articles by GE Moore, a defensive common sense from 1925 and a proof of the |
| 0:27.1 | external world from 1939. The more information please see partially examinelife.com. |
| 0:32.5 | This is Mark Linton Meyer, certain that I'm not dreaming in Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 0:35.8 | This is Seth Paschand with at least one hand in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:39.8 | This is Wes Allon coming to you mind independently from Cambridge Massachusetts. |
| 0:45.1 | This is Dylan Casey, open to speaking with philosophers who are not exclusively human beings in |
| 0:50.6 | Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 0:52.1 | I think for the first time we are 50% COVID-dated and I'm on the tail end and Seth is on the |
| 0:58.9 | beginning. |
| 0:59.9 | Yeah. |
| 1:00.9 | Yeah. So if you're a champion for being here. |
| 1:02.8 | Well, we've just put this off for so long and yesterday you know couldn't do it because |
| 1:08.4 | that my wife was sick and I'm trying to watch my kid and then I'm like, yeah, let's bump |
| 1:12.6 | it to tomorrow and I'll get coverage and then I show up positive this morning so I was |
| 1:16.2 | like, I realize there's irony but also I feel like I have to commit to the cause. |
| 1:20.7 | So I'll hang in as long as I can. |
| 1:22.8 | Yeah, but hopefully we caught it before, you know, like tomorrow you might be lying down |
| 1:27.2 | all day. |
... |
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