G. E. Moore's fame as a philosopher rests on his ethics of love and beauty, which inspired Bloomsbury, and on his ‘common sense' certainties which challenge abstract philosophical theory. Behind this lies his critical engagement with Kant's idealist philosophy, which is published here for the first time. These early writings, Moore's fellowship dissertations of 1897 and 1898, show how he initiated his influential break with idealism. In 1897 his main target was Kant's ethics, but by 1898 it was the whole Kantian project of transcendental philosophy that he rejected, and the theory which he developed to replace it gave rise to the new project of philosophy as logical analysis. This edition includes comments by Moore's examiners Henry Sidgwick, Edward Caird and Bernard Bosanquet, and in a substantial introduction the editors explore the crucial importance of the dissertations to the history of twentieth-century philosophical thought.
About the Author, Thomas Baldwin
Thomas Baldwin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. His previous publications include G. E. Moore (1990), Contemporary Philosophy: Philosophy of English since 1945 (2001) and The Cambridge History of Philosophy 1870–1945 (Cambridge University Press, 2003). He has also edited the revised edition of Principia Ethica (Cambridge University Press, 1993) and a selection of Moore's papers, Selected Writings (1993).
Consuelo Preti is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The College of New Jersey. Her recent publications centre on the relation between G. E. Moore's early theory of judgement and his ethics, and the relationship between Moore and Russell. She is also the author of On Kripke (2001) and On Fodor (2000).
