A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

390

Become a Patron!

G.E. Moore's Nightmare



Moore, after he wakes up again: "oh no, I had a nightmare that I made an argument that just begs the question on the skeptical claims!!!"
Follow on bluesky

Make sure to follow me on BlueSky

G.E. Moore famously refuting the skeptical argument about the existence of the outside world in class by simply taking his hands out of his pocket and saying "here is one hand. Here is another." He believed global skepticism is more or less incoherent because in face we can distinguish easily between dreams and reality, optical illusions and reality, etc. In fact, while he granted that it was vaguely possible to be mistaken (although have you ever really not been sure if you were dreaming or not when you were awake? The vast majority of people have not), he thought that since we are able to accurately make the distinction at all it was simply obvious that we exist in the real world, and if we existed in a dream world we most likely would not feel a sharp distinction between the clear waking world and the dream world.

In this case, he is dreaming of a dream world where that fact isn't true, and in the dream world people can't distinguish between dreams and reality. Something that he luckily wakes up to, so it naturally doesn't bother him, and he continues on his life giving question begging arguments.

G.E. Moore famously refuting the skeptical argument about the existence of the outside world in class by simply taking his hands out of his pocket and saying "here is one hand. Here is another." He believed global skepticism is more or less incoherent because in face we can distinguish easily between dreams and reality, optical illusions and reality, etc. In fact, while he granted that it was vaguely possible to be mistaken (although have you ever really not been sure if you were dreaming or not when you were awake? The vast majority of people have not), he thought that since we are able to accurately make the distinction at all it was simply obvious that we exist in the real world, and if we existed in a dream world we most likely would not feel a sharp distinction between the clear waking world and the dream world.

In this case, he is dreaming of a dream world where that fact isn't true, and in the dream world people can't distinguish between dreams and reality. Something that he luckily wakes up to, so it naturally doesn't bother him, and he continues on his life giving question begging arguments.

Philosophers in this comic: Rene Descartes, G.E. Moore
Support the comic on Patreon!
Follow on RSS Follow on bluesky Follow on facebook share with reddit share on bluesky share with your friends on facebook