Descartes philosophy Essay -- essays research papers

Descartes evil temper scenario provides the possibility for the existence of an evil genius that is in control of our cosmea in place on an omnipotent god. By in control, I mean that he would in some magical way drop a line our lives by his own will, thus making any certain cognition about material objects impossible. This scenario presents some real questions with Descartes argument because it basically alone rules out the possibility of any god. We are imagining that Dr. Spiritus has invaded a small agricultural hospital and has stolen the brains of several babies. He places the brains in a large vat, provides them with the immanent nutrients as well as hooking them up to electrodes that feed the treacherously images into their minds. These impulses that the doc would distribute at his own will would make the babies brains conceptualise that they are actually in their bodies living their lives as normal people. The doctor would provide all the necessary experiences such as childhood, school, number one live and etc. However since Dr. Spiritus is an evil genius, he feels it necessary to feed these minds the stimuli of pain, suffering, and disaster. The first question that arises is if it is possible to determine if one is not among Dr. Spiritus victims. According to Descartes, the swear out is yes. Descartes states that God is an infinite, omnipotent, omniscient substance. He also says that humans are not capable of causing this thoug...