Ep. 308: Moore's Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part One)
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
Mark Linsenmayer
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2023
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On G.E. Moore's "Proof of the External World" (1939) and "Certainty" (1941).
Moore shows you his hands and says "these are my hands, which are physical objects, and thus the external world exists!" Does this defeat skepticism?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the partially examined life, a podcast by some guys who had one point |
| 0:11.2 | set on doing philosophy for a living within thought better of it. |
| 0:14.3 | Our question for episode 308 is still something like, can we be certain of the existence of |
| 0:19.6 | the external world? |
| 0:21.0 | One episode was not enough on that question. |
| 0:23.1 | We'll be discussing Geemore's Proof of the External World from 1939 will actually get |
| 0:27.9 | to that this time. |
| 0:29.2 | We added another essay, Certainty, from 1959, for more information please see partially |
| 0:34.9 | examinedlife.com. |
| 0:36.8 | This is Mark Linton-Meyer and Madison, Wisconsin and I'll need to verify the legitimacy of |
| 0:40.4 | some NFTs before I can be certain I'm not dreaming. |
| 0:44.2 | This is Seth Pascon using puzzling and misleading phrases like, in my mind and external to my |
| 0:49.8 | mind in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:51.6 | This is Wes Aulon, a thing outside of your mind in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
| 0:57.2 | This is Dylan Casey feeling certain that I am certain that I know for certain that I'm |
| 1:01.8 | certainly sitting down in Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 1:04.6 | Are you in a room with windows? |
| 1:07.6 | Are you certain that you're in a room with windows? |
| 1:10.6 | It's all certain the other way down. |
| 1:13.8 | So yes, the one that we just added was the third essay that Viginstein's on Certainty |
| 1:17.5 | is reacting explicitly to, so we'll have the trifecta and it was nice to have a little |
| 1:22.5 | extra time to think about this. |
... |
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