A Defence of Common Sense is an influential 1925 essay by philosopher G. E. Moore. In it, he attempts to refute skepticism by arguing that at least some of our beliefs about the world are absolutely certain. Moore argues that these beliefs are common sense.
In section one, he argues that he has certain knowledge of a number of truisms, such as "My body has existed continuously on or near the earth, at various distances from or in contact with oth...
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A Defence of Common Sense is an influential 1925 essay by philosopher G. E. Moore. In it, he attempts to refute skepticism by arguing that at least some of our beliefs about the world are absolutely certain. Moore argues that these beliefs are common sense.
In section one, he argues that he has certain knowledge of a number of truisms, such as "My body has existed continuously on or near the earth, at various distances from or in contact with other existing things, including other living human beings", "I am a human being", and "My body existed yesterday".
In section two, he argues that there is a distinction between mental facts and physical facts. He says there is no good reason to hold, as many philosophers of his time did, that every physical fact is logically dependent on mental facts, or that every physical fact is causally dependent on mental facts. An example of a physical fact is "The mantelpiece is at present nearer to this body than that bookcase is." Mental facts include ...
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