meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 308: Moore's Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We quickly complete our treatment of G.E. Moore's "Proof of the External World" (1939) and move on to consider "Certainty" (1941).

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus content.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode of the Partial Exam in Life is sponsored by GiveWell.org.

0:04.1

Get your first time high-impact donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year.

0:16.7

Hey, this is the Partial Exam in Life episode 308 part 2.

0:20.8

We've just been discussing G. Moore's proof of the external world.

0:24.8

We're going to spend a little more time on that and move to certainty.

0:27.6

So, you know, Moore's gone through his delineation of all these different ways of interpreting this

0:33.5

and presented his two-hand proof. He then goes on to say that he can make the same claim about

0:38.8

things in the past so you can prove that things have existed in the past and not stuck in some kind of

0:43.6

idealistic solipsism but only present idealistic solipsism. Then he says,

0:48.3

this is on page 168, you know, he's given these two conclusive proofs of the existence of

0:54.0

external objects. He says, I'm perfectly well aware that in spite of what I've said,

0:57.7

many philosophers will still feel I have not given any satisfactory proof.

1:01.8

And he says, I want to say why this dissatisfaction should be felt.

1:06.5

And he says, one reason is some people understand proof of an external world is including a proof of

1:11.9

things which I haven't attempted to prove and haven't proved. It's not quite easy to say what it

1:16.4

is that they want proved, what it is that is such that unless they get a proof of it, they would not

1:21.6

say that I've proved it. But I can make it approach to explain what they want by saying that if I

1:26.3

had proved the propositions which I used as premises in my proofs, then they would perhaps admit I

1:31.2

had proved the existence of external things. So he's basically, I think, saying one place of

1:37.7

dissatisfaction with the proof I've given is that I'm taking the premises of my argument as being

1:42.9

self-evident and that they want another level proof that those premises are what it's the right

1:49.2

term sound valid, something like that. So that's one objection that he says he's aware of.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mark Linsenmayer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mark Linsenmayer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.