Descartes First Meditation Analysis

In the First Meditation, Descartes goes into depth on reflecting about the number of falsehoods and deceptions that he’s fallen for during his lifetime. This causes him to question everything that he has perceived as true or real, even something as concrete as the senses. It’s here where he attempts to deconstruct all the perceived notions and build a new foundation based on absolute truths, things that cannot be doubted. However, the most polarizing topic, and the one that I shall be arguing for today, is the idea that it is not only God who is the one that has allowed us to be deceived, but in conjuncture with a malicious demon.

Descartes argues that we often have perceptions in life that seem incredibly obvious and unquestionable, things that surely must be real. Yet at times our senses can deceive us. But why would God deceive us if he is the model of perfection? Instilling a fault from a faultless being doesn’t make sense, as doing such would go against him being as impeccable as he is, unless it isn’t god who is behind this curtain of confusion, but instead a deceiver, a cunning demon causing me to question my own judgements.

“So I shall suppose that some malicious, powerful, cunning demon has done all he can to deceive me – rather than this being done by God, who is supremely good and the source of truth.” (Rene Descartes:
Meditations on First Philosophy, 1966, pg. 163)

A difficult and unfathomable concept for many to even consider as a real possibility.
However; the most compelling idea of this is that if I were to immerse ourselves into this line of thinking, what types of conclusions could I draw about the world, about myself, and about life in general if everything I think I know and experience is nothing more than a mischievous demon tampering with my mind? If this were to be true, then everything that I know in life would be false, which would call into question, is a life with no real consequences or rewards for my actions, actually a life? Would this not simply be a meaningless
illusion?

To question everything as being the actions of a vindictive spirit is to question the mind itself and its validity. if I sense a table, and it isn’t actually physically there, how did my mind construct the idea of a table without some kind of real world experience, where did the concept of a table come from if nothing is true and it’s all just in my head? It implies that I cannot know anything, as nothing is true. If this was the case, and it was all just an illusion, then death would have no significance, there would be no difference between living or dying. And without life and death the very concept of living couldn’t exist, therefore I do not exist. But we know this not to be true, by possessing the very ability to question our own existence.

“If it were inconsistent with goodness to have created me such that I am deceived all the time, it would seem equally foreign to his goodness to allow me to be deceived even occasionally.” (Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy, 1966, p.164)

Descartes argues that since God is supremely good, he would not allow us, humans, to be deceived in any way, and the very idea of his virtue being so inconsistent that it would allow us to be fooled, suggests to Descartes that it is not God who is behind the foundation of our reality, but instead a demon. Yet I believe that if it’s an evil spirit dictating our thoughts and using us as a toy for its amusement, and God being as flawless as he is, this exposure to the human mind wouldn’t be something that God would unknowingly allow to be exploited, so surely the very fact that we are susceptible to this kind of mind alteration, tells us that it is a known dimension left open.

It then begs the question; why would God leave such a vulnerability to humans? A supremely unblemished being, left the opportunity for us to be fooled. But just because God is faultless does not mean his perfections are meant for all. allowing our minds to be penetrated and mislead by a demon may very well be a way in which to allow humans as a whole to grow and discover themselves, to push forward as a creation and not be dependent on an all-powerful gift given to be God.
“I shall at least do what is in my power, that is, resolutely guard against assenting to any falsehoods, so that the deceiver, however powerful and cunning he may be, will be unable to impose on me in the slightest degree.”
(Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy, 1966, pg. 164)

It’s here where Descartes states that he will do all that is in his power to reject and fight against the delusional fantasy that the malicious demon has instilled into his mind and view of reality. However; he asserts that this is something he is undertaking, strictly of his own willpower and fortitude. But I would argue that is this not exactly what God had intended for humans when he left this vulnerability? To leave this opening for us as individuals to fight against to prove our own existence without the assistance of anything or anyone, outside of our own minds? Creating a world where it is filled with beings equal to perfection as God would not allow the opportunity to witness the growth and flourishment of humankind, his greatest creation.

Descartes idea that our entire being is a dream created strictly by a destructive demon employing all of its strengths in order to deceive us is an interesting contemplation, however this isn’t something that could have been done alone. God is all-powerful, God is perfect, yet it is his choosing of how he wants to create, destroy, or manipulate. So just because God is the ultimate excellence, doesn’t mean he is unable to create anything that isn’t perfect strictly because he himself is perfect. If that were the case, then why create the components for destruction that exist to this day? And if it were purely a demon, we would never experience any form of happiness, we would simply be running on a treadmill with the carrot of joy dangling in-front of our faces as the demon laughs maliciously. So it must be a combination of both; God giving us something to fight against, and the demon providing that fight.

You could argue that it is strictly a malicious demon toying with our subconscious, however Descartes argues that God is perfection, therefore cannot create anything that isn’t perfect, yet we as humans are far from perfect, which leads him to believe that it must be another power that has created our imperfections. But if this were true, we would not be susceptible to have such a defects imposed within us, since we as creations of God, would be perfect, and thus immune to any delusions that a demon or any force may try to impose upon our minds. So it must be the workings of both the Demon and God. Not that they came to some form of an agreement, but more-so that God simply left open the opportunity for humans to fight for something, as a life with nothing to fight for, is not much of a life.