More on Moore on ‘Existence’

G.E. Moore divided his well-known essay, “Is Existence a Predicate?” into two parts. The first has become famous as an early example of “ordinary language” analysis, while the second (a mere 21⁄2 pages) has been universally neglected, for what appear to be several obvious reasons: (1) Moore's arguments in Part I are forthright and seem decisive. He deploys grammar and logic to show how the sentence ‘Tame tigers exist’ differs from ‘Tame tigers growl’, and thus to answer convincingly the question posed by the essay's title. By contrast, the arguments of Part II are compressed, tentative and obscure. It seems neither an obvious nor a needed sequel to Part I

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