Proof of an External World
E143656
Proof of an External World is a famous 1939 philosophical paper by G. E. Moore in which he defends common-sense realism by offering a straightforward argument for the existence of the external world.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Proof of an External World canonical | 3 |
| G. E. Moore’s “Proof of an External World” | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1252629 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Proof of an External World Context triple: [G. E. Moore, notableWork, Proof of an External World]
-
A.
chapter "On Our Knowledge of the External World"
The chapter "On Our Knowledge of the External World" is a philosophical discussion, within Bertrand Russell’s work The Problems of Philosophy, that examines how and to what extent we can justify beliefs about a reality beyond our immediate experiences.
-
B.
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason is a foundational philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer that analyzes the different ways in which the principle of sufficient reason structures human knowledge and experience.
-
C.
The Logical Structure of the World
The Logical Structure of the World is Rudolf Carnap’s seminal 1928 work in which he develops a rigorous, formal reconstruction of all scientific concepts from a phenomenalist basis, serving as a foundational text of logical positivism.
-
D.
The Measure of Reality
The Measure of Reality is a historical study by Alfred W. Crosby that explores how quantification and measurement transformed Western thought and culture from the Middle Ages onward.
-
E.
Gödel's ontological proof
Gödel's ontological proof is a formal, modal-logic-based argument for the existence of God that rigorously develops and refines earlier ontological arguments within a precise axiomatic framework.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Proof of an External World Target entity description: Proof of an External World is a famous 1939 philosophical paper by G. E. Moore in which he defends common-sense realism by offering a straightforward argument for the existence of the external world.
-
A.
chapter "On Our Knowledge of the External World"
The chapter "On Our Knowledge of the External World" is a philosophical discussion, within Bertrand Russell’s work The Problems of Philosophy, that examines how and to what extent we can justify beliefs about a reality beyond our immediate experiences.
-
B.
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason is a foundational philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer that analyzes the different ways in which the principle of sufficient reason structures human knowledge and experience.
-
C.
The Logical Structure of the World
The Logical Structure of the World is Rudolf Carnap’s seminal 1928 work in which he develops a rigorous, formal reconstruction of all scientific concepts from a phenomenalist basis, serving as a foundational text of logical positivism.
-
D.
The Measure of Reality
The Measure of Reality is a historical study by Alfred W. Crosby that explores how quantification and measurement transformed Western thought and culture from the Middle Ages onward.
-
E.
Gödel's ontological proof
Gödel's ontological proof is a formal, modal-logic-based argument for the existence of God that rigorously develops and refines earlier ontological arguments within a precise axiomatic framework.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical paper
ⓘ
work of analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline | philosophy ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst |
Cartesian skepticism
ⓘ
linked to:
Cartesianism
external world skepticism ⓘ |
| author |
G. E. Moore
ⓘ
George Edward Moore ⓘ
linked to:
G. E. Moore
|
| conclusion | external things exist ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| defends | common-sense realism ⓘ |
| famousFor |
Moorean proof of the external world
ⓘ
Moorean shift ⓘ |
| featuresArgumentForm | Here is one hand, and here is another ⓘ |
| hasGenre | philosophical essay ⓘ |
| hasKeyExample | demonstration of two human hands ⓘ |
| hasReception | widely discussed in 20th-century epistemology ⓘ |
| hasSubjectArea |
metaphysics
ⓘ
theory of knowledge ⓘ |
| influenced |
Moorean responses to skepticism
ⓘ
contemporary epistemology ⓘ debates on skepticism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
common-sense realism
ⓘ
epistemology ⓘ external world ⓘ knowledge of the external world ⓘ philosophical skepticism ⓘ skepticism ⓘ |
| notableFor |
reversal of skeptical arguments
ⓘ
simple, common-sense argument structure ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| premise |
Here is another hand
ⓘ
Here is one hand ⓘ |
| provides | proof of the existence of external objects ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1939 ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Moorean facts
ⓘ
evidence ⓘ knowledge ⓘ perception ⓘ proof ⓘ |
| relatedWork | A Defence of Common Sense ⓘ |
| setsOut | conditions for a rigorous proof ⓘ |
| statesCondition |
conclusion must follow from the premises
ⓘ
premises must be different from the conclusion ⓘ premises must be known to be true ⓘ |
| supportsPosition |
anti-skepticism
ⓘ
direct realism ⓘ |
| usesMethod |
appeal to common sense
ⓘ
ordinary language reasoning ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Proof of an External World Description of subject: Proof of an External World is a famous 1939 philosophical paper by G. E. Moore in which he defends common-sense realism by offering a straightforward argument for the existence of the external world.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Proof of an External World