G. E. Moore's Ethical Theory : Resistance and Reconciliation

Rating:
Summary: An important contribution to the current literature in ethic
Review: Hutchinson writes with grace and flair. His judgments of Moore are penetrating and wise, neither adulatory nor inimical. Unlike most writers on Moore, Hutchinson is at home also with Moore's epistemological and metaphysical works. He correctly ties Moore's realism ("objectivism") in ethics to his defense of common sense in epistemology. Moore's "innocence" (Keynes's word) regarding the existence and knowability of values is nicely compared with his much discussed, with derision or admiration, "innocence" regarding the existence and knowability of material objects. Moore thought that both are obvious, and that only intellectual confusion leads to thinking they are not. Hutchinson's book is an important contribution to the current literature in ethics. It would be an excellent "companion" for readers of Moore.