Alice Ambrose - G. E. Moore: Essays in Retrospect

Muirhead Library of Philosophy

G E MOORE

Muirhead Library of Philosophy

20TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY

In 22 Volumes

G E MOORE

Essays in Retrospect

EDITED BY ALICE AMBROSE AND MORRIS LAZEROWITZ

First publised in 1970

Reprinted in 2002 by

Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

First issued in paperback 2013

1970 Routledge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

The publishers have made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders of the works reprinted in the Muirhead Library of Philosophy. This has not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals/companies we have been unable to trace.

These reprints are taken from original copies of each book. In many cases the condition of these originals is not perfect. The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of these reprints, but wishes to point out that certain characteristics of the original copies will, of necessity, be apparent in reprints thereof.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

G E Moore

ISBN13: 978-0-415-29537-6 (hardback)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-84788-9 (paperback)

20th Century Philosophy: 22 Volumes

ISBN13: 978-0-415-29526-0

Muirhead Library of Philosophy: 95 Volumes

ISBN13: 978-0-415-27897-3

Muirhead Library of Philosophy

An admirable statement of the aims of the Library of Philosophy was provided by the first editor, the late Professor J. H. Muirhead, in his description of the original programme printed in Erdmanns History of Philosophy under the date 1890. This was slightly modified in subsequent volumes to take the form of the following statement :

The Muirhead Library of Philosophy was designed as a contribution to the History of Modern Philosophy under the heads : first of Different Schools of ThoughtSensationalist, Realist, Idealist, Intuitivist; secondly of different SubjectsPsychology, Ethics, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Theology. While much had been done in England in tracing the course of evolution in nature, history, economics, morals and religion, little had been done in tracing the development of thought on these subjects. Yet the evolution of opinion is part of the whole evolution.

By the co-operation of different writers in carrying out this plan it was hoped that a thoroughness and completeness of treatment, otherwise unattainable, might be secured. It was believed also that from writers mainly British and American fuller consideration of English Philosophy then it had hitherto received might be looked for. In the earlier series of books containing, among others, Bosanquets History of Aesthetic, Pfleiderers Rational Theology since Kant, Albees History of English Utilitarianism, Bonars Philosophy and Political Economy, Bretts History of Psychology, Ritchies Natural Rights, these objects were to a large extent effected.

In the meantime original work of a high order was being produced both in England and America by such writers as Bradley, Stout, Bertrand Russell, Baldwin, Urban, Montague, and others, and a new interest in foreign works, German, French and Italian, which had either become classical or were attracting public attention, had developed. The scope of the Library thus became extended into something more international, and it is entering on the fifth decade of its existence in the hope that it may contribute to that mutual understanding between countries which is so pressing a need of the present time.

The need which Professor Muirhead stressed is no less pressing today, and few will deny that philosophy has much to do with enabling us to meet it, although no one, least of all Muirhead himself, would regard that as the sole, or even the main, object of philosophy. As Professor Muirhead continues to lend the distinction of his name to the Library of Philosophy it seemed not inappropriate to allow him to recall us to these aims in his own words. The emphasis on the history of thought also seemed to me very timely; and the number of important works promised for the Library in the very near future augur well for the continued fulfilment, in this and other ways, of the expectations of the original editor.

H. D. Lewis

G. E. MOORE

ESSAYS IN RETROSPECT

EDITED BY

ALICE AMBROSE

AND

MORRIS LAZEROWITZ

Sophia and Austin Smith Professors of Philosophy

Smith College

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1970

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.

Routledge 1970

SBN 04 192023 6

George Edward Moore (18731958) was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and the outcome of the changes he introduced into our ways of thinking in philosophy cannot yet be foreseen. Philosophy after Moore can never again be what it was before Moore, because of the standards of exactness and refinement he brought to the doing of philosophy, but more importantly, because of the direction he gave to philosophical investigation. His analytical method, and particularly his method of translation into the concrete, have awakened philosophers to certain features of their views and arguments to which they cannot again close their eyes. And it is to be hoped, as Moore would have hoped, that further investigations will add to the light his work has thrown on a subject which stands in great need of better understanding. This is the motivation of the present collection of essays. Contributors of the papers in this book examine various views to which Moore gave his attention, and assess his claims and the central method he used to discover evidence for them. All of the papers were written in or after 1958, by philosophers whom Moore respected, and may be viewed as appraisals of his work in retrospect. The editors wish to express their special thanks to the contributors of the new essays and particularly to Professor H. D. Lewis, editor of the Muirhead Library, who, perhaps more than anyone else, has a clear view of Moores fundamental importance for the progress of philosophy.

For permission to reprint previously published papers we are indebted to the editors of