PHIL 1000H Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Evil Demon, Dream Argument
14 Nov 2016
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Descartes says his senses deceived him under nonstandard conditions [far away things] The dream argument is supposed to show that even when your senses are operating under the most favourable conditions [something right under your nose], they could still be false, because you could be dreaming. The dreaming argument is supposed to do what the fallibility argument cannot do. Objective experiences make it appear to be so. Can never rule out the possibility that it could be a dream. Descartes is bringing up the problem of appearance vs. reality. Appearances are a wall to block you from reality. The dream hypothesis is supposed to dramatize to make vivid the gap between appearance and reality. The quest that descartes is on looks to be coming to a dead end. He was going to imagine that there was an evil demon there who is trying to make him lower his standards. The evil demon is tempting him to lower his intellectual standards.
