Philosophy / Unit 2 Philosophy 0058 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Evil Demon
Captions available
The idea
Descartes' evil demon: imagine a deceiver powerful enough to fabricate your every experience—even mathematics could then be doubted.
In practice
The sky, this page, two plus three: all could be the demon's stagecraft, fed to a disembodied mind.
Where people slip
The demon is a doubt-maximizer, not a theology. Descartes builds the strongest opponent he can, on purpose.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Philosophy