Thomas Moore's Proof Of An External World

Moore’s “Proof of an External World” attempts to prove that an external world exists by using his own common sense. The problem with common sense is that while the person may just know something by thinking about it properly, it comes down to their own perception. Moore’s argument and proof for an external world is “here is one hand, and here is another”. He goes on to state that he knows this to be true, so an external world does exist. He states his three conditions for an argument to work, and how his argument meets those requirements, but still does not elaborate further on how he can know it to be true. Moore’s proof is not successful because it hinges on whether or not he knows the hand is a hand, but provides proof that he actually knows
Disregarding one and three, the second condition is the most problematic because it states that the premise must be known. In Moore’s proof, he states as an absolute that he knows that it is a hand and moves on from the point. If he actually does know that the hand is a hand, then yes, the second is satisfied. But, as he has given no reason for the person hearing the argument to be convinced that Moore actually knows that the hand is a hand, they are under no obligation to actually accept this premise. For a stranger reading this passage with no prior knowledge of the topic, Moore has no credibility and the stranger is unlikely to simply believe that the person who came up with the idea is not just saying that he knows the hand is a hand because it is convenient for his proof. For someone who knows that Moore is a famous philosopher, his proof becomes the philosophy equivalent of, “Trust me, I’m a
Moore’s proof and his knowing is mainly based on perception, because common sense is partly just a person’s perception of something. This means that common sense and knowing differs from person to person because people all perceive differently. If Moore “knows” that a hand is a hand because of his own common sense, there is nothing preventing someone else from “knowing” something completely different. While it would generally be common sense to look at one’s own hand and know that it is a hand, it is also common sense to know that perception can be