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Evil demon

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The evil demon, also known as Deus deceptor, malicious demon, and evil genius, is an epistemological concept that features prominently in Cartesian philosophy. In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes imagines that a malevolent God or an evil demon, of "utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive me". This malevolent God or evil demon is imagined to present a complete illusion of an external world, so that Descartes can say, "I shall think that the sky, the air, the earth, colours, shapes, sounds and all external things are merely the delusions of dreams which he has devised to ensnare my judgement. I shall consider myself as not having hands or eyes, or flesh, or blood or senses, but as falsely believing that I have all these things."

Evil demon - Wikipedia Jump to content From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article may contain original research . Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( October 2025 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Concept in Cartesian philosophy This article is about the philosophical concept originating with René Descartes. For other uses, see Demon (disambiguation) and Evil genius (disambiguation) . Part of a series on René Descartes Philosophy Cartesianism Rationalism Foundatio

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