Cross-text connections: advanced

Text 1

Philosopher G.E. Moore’s most influential work entails the concept of common sense. He asserts that there are certain beliefs that all people, including philosophers, know instinctively to be true, whether or not they profess otherwise: among them, that they have bodies, or that they exist in a world with other objects that have three dimensions. Moore’s careful work on common sense may seem obvious but was in fact groundbreaking.

Text 2

External world skepticism is a philosophical stance supposing that we cannot be sure of the existence of anything outside our own minds. During a lecture, G.E. Moore once offered a proof refuting this stance by holding out his hands and saying, “Here is one hand, and here is another.” Many philosophers reflexively reject this proof (Annalisa Coliva called it “an obviously annoying failure”) but have found it a challenge to articulate exactly why the proof fails.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to proponents of the philosophical stance outlined in Text 2?

(Choice A)
By pointing out that Moore would assert that external world skepticism is at odds with other beliefs those proponents must unavoidably hold
(Choice B)
By arguing that if it is valid to assert that some facts are true based on instinct, it is also valid to assert that some proofs are inadequate based on instinct
(Choice C)
By agreeing with those proponents that Moore’s treatment of positions that contradict his own is fundamentally unserious
(Choice D)
By suggesting that an instinctive distaste for Moore’s position is preventing external world skeptics from constructing a sufficiently rigorous refutation of Moore

Digital SAT Reading and Writing

Course: Digital SAT Reading and Writing > Unit 4

Problem