Full Idea
Moore and Russell held the strange view that 'sensibilia' (sense data) are mind-independent entities: a view so dotty, on the face of it, that few analytic philosophers like to be reminded that this is how analytic philosophy started.
Gist of Idea
The old view that sense data are independent of mind is quite dotty
Source
Hilary Putnam (Why there isn't a ready-made world [1981], 'Intro')
Book Reference
Putnam,Hilary: 'Realism and Reason: Papers vol 3' [CUP 1985], p.205
A Reaction
I suspect the view was influenced by the anti-psychologism of Frege, and his idea that all the other concepts are mind-independent, living by their own rules in a 'third realm'. Personally I think analytic philosophy needs more psychology, not less.