What we mean by good › Isolation and its limits

Moore proposes considering things in isolation when we assess their intrinsic value. We ask what value something would have apart from its usual effects and accompaniments. The method tries to prevent a useful consequence from being mistaken for value in the thing itself.

His comparison between a beautiful unobserved world and an ugly one applies this method (section 50). He asks whether the beautiful world would be better even if neither world could be contemplated by a human being. His judgment challenges the restriction of all value to pleasure within human experience.

That is a thought experiment, not evidence about an actually uninhabited world. A reader can understand the comparison and dispute the judgment. Its role is to clarify what would have to be accepted or denied when deciding whether beauty has value apart from being enjoyed.

Isolation must also be used alongside organic unities. Separately examining the constituents of a whole does not remove the need to evaluate the whole itself. Otherwise the method would reproduce the very error Moore is warning against: attributing all the value of a complex experience to whichever isolated constituent first attracts attention.