ABSTRACT
I should like in these pages to think about Moore’s book in terms of the following passage from the first chapter. The first chapter is entitled ‘What is Philosophy?’ And the passage quoted is a part of Moore’s answer to that question.
‘To begin with, then, it seems to me that the most important and interesting thing which philosophers have tried to do is no less than this; namely: To give a general description of the whole of the universe, mentioning all the most important kinds of things which we know to be in it, considering how far it is likely that there are in it important kinds of things which we do not absolutely know to be in it, and also considering the most important ways in which these kinds of things are related to one another. I will call this, for short, “Giving a general description of the whole universe”, and hence will say that the first and most important problem of philosophy is: To give a general description of the whole universe.’
