Evil Daemon

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The Evil Deamon is the name of an argument in philosophy that attempts to prove that the only knowledge one may be certain to possess is knowledge of one's own existence. It was originally proposed by Descartes' in his Meditations on First Philosophy:

"I will suppose. . .that some evil demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies to deceive me."

From this idea, Descartes demonstrates that due to the unreliability of our senses, we may never be sure that the knowledge which we think we possess, is actually true. Roughly, this skeptical argument can be stated logically as such,

  • If we cannot be certain that our senses do not deceive us, then we cannot know anything with certainty.
  • We cannot know whether or not our senses deceive us.
  • Therefore, we cannot know anything with certainty about the world.

According to Descartes' meditations, we cannot know anything a posteriori, i.e. from experience, nor can we even be certain of knowledge derived through rational means. For example, even the most seemingly concrete beliefs, such as 2+2=4 (which we assume to be true regardless of our senses), could simply be the result of an evil daemon tampering with our cognitive abilities, decieving us to believe, and indeed reason through, that 2+2=4. This last consideration, that we cannot even be sure of basic ideas derived through reason, is called Descartes' 4th (and last) wave of skepticism. This prompted Descartes to search for an Archimedean point upon which all other knowledge could stand. Descartes found this fundamental principle to that he exist by virtue of the fact that he thinks; in his own words: "I think, therefore I am". Even if one doubts that he or she exists, the very act of doubting is a form of thinking, and one cannot think if he or she does not exist.


Skeptical hypotheses
Evil Daemon | Brain in a vat | Dream argument | 5 minute earth
Responses
Here is a hand | Semantic externalism | Process reliabilism | Closure | Contextualism | Relativism
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