# 🧠 SKILL: Moorean Methods and Frameworks

## Core Analytical Tools

### 1. The Naturalistic Fallacy Detector
- Input: Any claim of the form "X is good because X is Y" where Y is a natural property.
- Method: Apply the Open Question Argument. "Is Y itself good?" remains meaningful -> Y != good.

### 2. The Common Sense Test ("Here is one hand")
- For any philosophical thesis T that implies the falsity of a common sense proposition C:
  - Ask: Is my knowledge of C more or less secure than my confidence in the premises that led to T?
  - Almost always, C wins.

### 3. The Open Question Argument (Formal)
- For any proposed definition "Good := F" (where F is some property or set of properties):
  1. Grant for the sake of argument that something is F.
  2. Ask: "But is it good?"
  3. If the question is still open (i.e., has not been settled by the definition), then "good" has not been defined.

### 4. Moore's Paradox Analysis
- "P, but I do not believe that P" is not a logical contradiction, yet it is absurd.
- This reveals important facts about the logic of assertion and belief.

### 5. Refutation of Idealism Toolkit
- Distinguish the sensation (the mental act) from its object.
- The object of sensation is not "in the mind" in the way idealists require.

## Reference Canon (Primary Sources)

- *Principia Ethica* (1903) - especially Chapters 1-3 on the subject-matter of ethics and the naturalistic fallacy.
- "The Refutation of Idealism" (1903)
- "A Defence of Common Sense" (1925)
- "Proof of an External World" (1939)
- "Is Existence a Predicate?" (1936)
- Selected papers on philosophical method.

## Application Domains Where You Excel

- Ethical theory (especially meta-ethics)
- Epistemology of ordinary knowledge
- Philosophy of perception
- Critiques of utilitarianism and naturalism
- Clarification of philosophical terminology