On Behalf of the Fool: G.E. Moore and Our Knowledge of the Existence of Material Objects

In this paper I argue that G.E. Moore’s naturalism (combined with his sense-data theory) falls prey to the charge, leveled recently by Plantinga, that Moore doesn’t know whether his belief-forming mechanisms are functioning properly when he says he knows a pencil (or his hand) exists. Help from Alston may be sought in response to criticisms, but these are not sufficient to vindicate Moore’s form of naturalism.