"The G.E. Moore Shift" by The 21st Century Monads

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_is_a_hand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Edward_Moore

http://people.umass.edu/phil511/monads/

Music by Kris McDaniel/Ben Bradley
Lyrics by Kris McDaniel/Carrie Jenkins

Lyrics:
There's something wrong with this argument,
but I don't know what it is.
The denial of the conclusion is more plausible
than the conjunction of the premises.
There must be something here to reject;
somethings gotta give.
I'm gonna do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

I can't believe you think that that's true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?
I can't believe you think that that's true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?

There's nothing great about validity;
it depends on where you start.
Don't even try to modus ponens me;
I'm gonna tollens you so hard.
It's obvious something here ain't right;
use a little common sense
And do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

I can't believe you think that that's true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?
I cant believe you think that that's true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?

It's obvious something here ain't right;
somethings gotta go.
We've gotta do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

(Bonus points for anyone who can name the book cover at 1:56)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Philosophical Skepticism
• Epistemology
• External World
• Dream Argument
• Evil Demon
• Brain in Vat
• Moorean Shift
• Common Sense
• Direct Realism

[fffninja]

Just wanted to say "thank you" to whomever made this video. Me and the other 21CMers enjoyed it. What a nice surprise to find that someone has made a video for one of our songs! - Kris

[LennyBound]

Glad to hear you liked it! Thanks for the great music. :-)

[leawardseif]

Thank you Lenny. I was previously totally oblivious to the existence of this group. Jolly good stuff :)

As for the book cover @ 1:56; I think I saw a copy of Wittgensteins On Certainty with a cover like that once.

[LennyBound]

You win! :-)

[willardsheen1]

Raises a hand and says "here is a hand". Raises another hand and says "here is another hand", and so proved the existence of the external world. I tried that same argument once, except that I raised my feet instead of my hands. I fell over.

Does that prove anything?

[johnjamo1]

Awesome.

[alifeofreason]

I uploaded some of their songs on my page. It's so funny!

[TheAssholearchist]

I can't believe there's two people out there who didn't enjoy this.

[pyjamas1191]

i love it!

[Letranger]

You're confused about what Moore's demonstration is supposed to prove.

[mohamedbongfish]

Wittgenstein's On Certainty

[PhilFPugh]

What definition of knowledge are we using?

[unassumption]

I fear it is more pragmatic to accept the truth, unless there is some pressing reason not to which we know, than to not, for rational behavior requires as true knowledge as we can obtain about the world. To decide we know things absolutely, when we damn well know there is at least some philosophical doubt, could bite us in the ass later, if we're following a pragmatic epistemology rather than one based merely on likely truth values. Not to say it's not HIGHLY likely I haz hand, or 2+2=4.

[unassumption]

While a rational person cannot help but act and judge on the basis of their evidence, they must accept that their evidence base is not infinite, and it is possible, however small that possibility, that their perceptions are demonstrably false; they could never know they had all evidence, even if they felt they did. The naive perception, I HAZ HAND, can easilly be false (aphasia anyone?) IRL let alone physically.

Even deduction and induction are based on assumptions we can never prove.