A Defence of Common Sense
E143655
A Defence of Common Sense is a seminal philosophical essay by G. E. Moore that argues for the certainty of everyday common-sense beliefs against skeptical and idealist challenges.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Defence of Common Sense canonical | 3 |
| G. E. Moore’s “A Defence of Common Sense” | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1252628 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Defence of Common Sense Context triple: [G. E. Moore, notableWork, A Defence of Common Sense]
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A.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
-
B.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
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C.
The Bounds of Sense
The Bounds of Sense is a major work of analytic philosophy by P. F. Strawson that critically examines and partially reconstructs Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
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D.
Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect
Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect is an unfinished philosophical work by Baruch Spinoza that outlines a method for improving the mind to attain true knowledge and intellectual perfection.
-
E.
Course of Positive Philosophy
Course of Positive Philosophy is Auguste Comte’s foundational multi-volume work that systematically outlines positivism and the hierarchy of the sciences, laying the groundwork for modern sociology.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Defence of Common Sense Target entity description: A Defence of Common Sense is a seminal philosophical essay by G. E. Moore that argues for the certainty of everyday common-sense beliefs against skeptical and idealist challenges.
-
A.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
-
B.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
C.
The Bounds of Sense
The Bounds of Sense is a major work of analytic philosophy by P. F. Strawson that critically examines and partially reconstructs Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
-
D.
Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect
Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect is an unfinished philosophical work by Baruch Spinoza that outlines a method for improving the mind to attain true knowledge and intellectual perfection.
-
E.
Course of Positive Philosophy
Course of Positive Philosophy is Auguste Comte’s foundational multi-volume work that systematically outlines positivism and the hierarchy of the sciences, laying the groundwork for modern sociology.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical essay
ⓘ
work of analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| addressesPosition |
British idealism
ⓘ
Cartesian skepticism ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst |
metaphysical idealism
ⓘ
philosophical skepticism ⓘ radical doubt about the external world ⓘ |
| author | G. E. Moore ⓘ |
| century | 20th century ⓘ |
| discusses |
existence of space and time
ⓘ
knowledge of one’s own body ⓘ knowledge of other minds ⓘ |
| field |
epistemology
ⓘ
metaphysics ⓘ philosophy of common sense ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
everyday knowledge
ⓘ
ordinary objects ⓘ |
| hasKeyClaim |
denial of common-sense propositions is more unreasonable than rejection of skeptical arguments
ⓘ
philosophical theories should accommodate common-sense beliefs rather than overturn them ⓘ some common-sense beliefs are more certain than philosophical theories that challenge them ⓘ we know many things about the external world with certainty ⓘ |
| hasNotableReception |
considered a classic in analytic philosophy
ⓘ
widely anthologized in philosophy collections ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
anti-idealist stance
ⓘ
anti-skeptical stance ⓘ realist view of the external world ⓘ |
| influenced |
20th-century epistemology
ⓘ
common sense philosophy ⓘ contemporary analytic metaphysics ⓘ debates on external world skepticism ⓘ |
| introducesConcept |
Moorean facts
ⓘ
common-sense propositions ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
critique of idealism
ⓘ
defence of common-sense beliefs ⓘ epistemic certainty of everyday beliefs ⓘ response to skepticism ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| relatedConcept | Moorean shift ⓘ |
| relatedWorkByAuthor | Proof of an External World ⓘ |
| supportsView |
certainty of some propositions
ⓘ
existence of an external world ⓘ existence of material objects ⓘ reliability of common-sense beliefs ⓘ |
| usesMethod |
appeal to ordinary language
ⓘ
appeal to pre-theoretical intuitions ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A Defence of Common Sense Description of subject: A Defence of Common Sense is a seminal philosophical essay by G. E. Moore that argues for the certainty of everyday common-sense beliefs against skeptical and idealist challenges.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
G. E. Moore’s “A Defence of Common Sense”