Publication Type
Working Paper
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
1-2004
Abstract
What explanation is there of the source of my justification for my beliefs about my beliefs that respects the fact that I am normally the best authority on them? Moore's paradox demands an explanation of the absurdity of believing or asserting possible truths of the forms p but I don't believe that p or p but I believe that not-p. I argue for Evans principle that whatever justifies me in believing that p also justifies me in believing that I believe that p. This helps explain how I come to know my own beliefs and also shows that it is impossible for a Moorean belief to be justified. I then explain the absurdity of Moorean assertion while avoiding the messy notion of 'expressing belief' yet acknowledging Shoemaker’s constraint that if I cannot non-absurdly believe that p then I cannot non-absurdly assert that p.
Discipline
Philosophy
Research Areas
Humanities
First Page
1
Last Page
35
Publisher
SMU Social Sciences and Humanities Working Paper Series, 1-2004
City or Country
Singapore
Citation
WILLIAMS, John N., "Moore's Paradox and Self-Knowledge" (2004). Research Collection School of Social Sciences. Paper 21.
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/21
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/21
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.