Abstract
G. E. Moore famously observed that to say, “ I went to the pictures last Tuesday but I don’t believe that I did” would be “absurd”. Why should it be absurd of me to say something about myself that might be true of me? Moore suggested an answer to this, but as I will show, one that fails. Wittgenstein was greatly impressed by Moore’s discovery of a class of absurd but possibly true assertions because he saw that it illuminates “the logic of assertion”. Wittgenstein suggests a promising relation of assertion to belief in terms of the idea that one “expresses belief” that is consistent with the spirit of Moore’s failed attempt to explain the absurdity. Wittgenstein also observes that “under unusual circumstances”, the sentence, “It’s raining but I don’t believe it” could be given “a clear sense”. Why does the absurdity disappear from speech in such cases? Wittgenstein further suggests that analogous absurdity may be found in terms of desire, rather than belief. In what follows I develop an account of Moorean absurdity that, with the exception of Wittgenstein’s last suggestion, is broadly consistent with both Moore’s approach and Wittgenstein’s.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Adler (1999) ArticleTitle‘The Ethics of Belief: Off the Wrong Track’ Midwest Studies in Philosophy 23 267–285 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1475-4975.00014
T. Baldwin (1990) G. E. Moore Routledge London and New York
T. Baldwin (1993) G. E. Moore: Selected Writings Routledge London
M. Crimmins (1992) ArticleTitle‘I Falsely Believe that p’ Analysis 52 191
C. Almeida ParticleDe (2001) ArticleTitle‘What Moore’s Paradox is About’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62 33–58
Green M. (forthcoming) Self-Expression, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
A Hájek D. Stoljar (2001) ArticleTitle‘Crimmins, Gonzales, and Moore’ Analysis 61 208–213
J. Heal (1977) ArticleTitle‘Insincerity and Commands’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 77 183–202
J. Heal (1994) ArticleTitle‘Moore’s Paradox: A Wittgensteinian Approach’ Mind 103 5–24
N. Malcolm (1984) Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir Oxford University Press Oxford
G.E. Moore (1912) Ethics Holt London
G.E. Moore (1942) ‘A Reply to My Critics’ P. Schlipp (Eds) The Philosophy of G. E. Moore Tudor Evanston 535–677
G.E. Moore (1944) ‘Russell’s Theory of Descriptions’ P. Schlipp (Eds) The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell. Tudor Evanston 175–225
D. Rosenthal (1995) ArticleTitle‘Self-knowledge and Moore’s Paradox’ Philosophical Studies 77 196–209 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00989569
D. Rosenthal (2002) ArticleTitle‘Moore’s Paradox and Crimmins’ Case’ Analysis 62 167–171 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-8284.00351
J. Searle (1983) Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind Cambridge University Press Cambridge
S. Shoemaker (1995) ArticleTitle‘Moore’s Paradox and Self-Knowledge’ Philosophical Studies 77 211–228 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00989570
R. Sorensen (1988) Blindspots Clarendon Press Oxford
R. Stalnaker (1975) ArticleTitle‘Indicative Conditionals’ Philosophia 75 269–286
R. Stalnaker (1984) Inquiry MIT Press Cambridge
J.N. Williams (1979) ArticleTitle‘Moore’s Paradox- One or Two?’ Analysis 39 141–142
J.N. Williams (1996) ArticleTitle‘Moorean Absurdities and the Nature of Assertion’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy 74 135–149 Occurrence Handle10.1080/00048409612347111
J.N. Williams (1998) ArticleTitle‘Wittgensteinian Accounts of Moorean Absurdity’ Philosophical Studies 92 283–306 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1004260008644
T. Williamson (1996) ArticleTitle‘Knowing and Asserting’ Philosophical Review 105 489–523
L. Wittgenstein (1953) Philosophical Investigations Blackwell Oxford
Wittgenstein L. (1974) Letters to Russell, Keynes and Moore. In: von Wright G.H. (ed). Blackwell, Oxford.
Wittgenstein L. (1980a) Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology Volume 1, G. Anscombe and G. von Wright (eds.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Wittgenstein L. 1980b, Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology Volume 2, G.H. von Wright and H. Hyman (eds.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
E. Wolgast (1977) Paradoxes of Knowledge Cornell University Press Ithaca
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Williams, J.N. Wittgenstein, Moorean Absurdity and its Disappearance from Speech. Synthese 149, 225–254 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-004-6252-0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-004-6252-0