This is Volume XV in a collection of twenty-two on 20th Century Philosophy. First published in 1966, as a part of the Muirhead library of Philosophy this work consists of selections from three courses of lectures. The first course was given in the academic year 1925-26, the second in 1928-29, and the third in 1933-34. The first two (entitled “ Metaphysics” ) were intended primarily for Part II of the Moral Sciences Tripos; the last (entitled “ Elements of Philosophy” ) for Part I. (The selections from the second course, which are the most extensive, are printed first.)
George Edward "G. E." Moore OM, FBA was philosopher, one of the founders of the analytic tradition along with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and (before them) Gottlob Frege. With Russell, he led the turn away from idealism in British philosophy, and became well known for his advocacy of common sense concepts, his contributions to ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics, and "his exceptional personality and moral character." He was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, highly influential among (though not a member of) the Bloomsbury Group, and the editor of the influential journal Mind. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1918. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, from 1894, and the Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club.