Faith
This essay opens with a quote found in the Preface to the translated second edition of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason in which the author the Preface, Kemp Smith, writes “It still remains a scandal to philosophy…that the existence of things outside of us…must be accepted merely on faith.” Moore then proceeds to expend considerable time analyzing the precise meaning of what Smith intended with the word “scandal.” He arrives at the conclusion that it cannot be taken literally in light of evidence to the contrary and meaning can only be derived from its use when considered a metaphorical description of the circumstances related to accepting the existence of things external to ourselves on faith alone.
Sensory Imagery
Metaphors are often called into secondary service as sensory images which produce a tangibility to concepts existing only in the abstract. Moore references this usage by writing that it was “adopted by philosophers, because they saw a real resemblance between such statements as…I heard a clap of thunder…on the one hand, and such statements as…I pictured the scene to myself…on the other.” What is unexpected about these uses of metaphor is that Moore treats them as not being identical for the purpose of philosophical inquiry into an experience. He does this by insisting that if one adds a date to the end of such statements the result, if true, is proof of having had an experience on that date. For instance, I heard a clap of thunder on January 1 is proof of the philosophical definition of having an experience on that date whereas I pictured the scene to myself on January 1 is not sufficient proof that an experience was had on the same date. The fact that both statements are metaphorically constructed has no bearing on whether the experience happened or not.
Soap Bubbles
Even the simplicity of soap bubbles becomes a confusing mass of language games for Moore as he indulges in arcane philosophical writing. Between the introduction of the image of a soap bubble and his final explanation of what it means, there is extensive use of typically abstruse philosophical writing. Ultimately, however, Moore does simplify things by explicitly identifying a soap bubble as an example of an object external to everybody at once. “And, if this is true of the kind `soap-bubble,’ it is certainly also true of any other kind (including the kind `unicorn’).” It is certainly a struggle to work one’s way there, but here is one example of Moore taking pity on his readers and implicating soap bubbles and unicorns as metaphors for anything which if it is external to one mind is also external to all other minds.
