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Moore's Paradox and Consciousness

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Isfahan

2 philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Human Science, university of Isfahan, Isfahan

Abstract

Moore’s sentences are sentences of the form “p but I don't believe that p” or “p but I believe that not-p”. These sentences might be true, yet they are ‘absurd’ to believe or assert. According to some version of Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness such as Higher-Order Thought Theory (HOT), it is claimed that conscious beliefs in Moorean sentences is not possible. Namely, one will become irrational with their conscious beliefs in their set of beliefs. In this paper we will first introduce Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness and will show that How they work. we will then argue that there are at least four criticisms against approaches based on Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness in relation of Moore's Paradox and thus are not tenable.
Key words: Moore's paradox, epistemic paradox, rationality, Consciousness, Higher-Order Thought Theory

Keywords

References
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Philosophy of Science
Volume 9, Issue 18 - Serial Number 18
February 2020
Pages 181-200
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