Genius malignus
In René Descartes ' philosophy, the genius malignus ( Latin for "evil spirit") is a conceptual figure that led to the emergence of modern skepticism .
In the first of the Meditationes de prima philosophia ( 1641 ) Descartes developed the assumption that a genius malignus led him to believe that he probably possessed sense organs with which he could perceive the res extensa of the outside world. If, on the basis of this, one does not exclude the possibility that knowledge is not a representation of reality, but rather illusion, then a skepticism arises about knowledge of the outside world.
As a rediscovery of the genius malignus of in philosophy was the 20th century , the brain-in-tank argument ( Engl. "Brain in a vat"), first by David Malet Armstrong and J. J. C. Smart formulated without skeptical intention after the Consciousness , the res cogitans , could also consist of a brain that simulates reality for itself. The brain-in-tank argument was finally led by Gilbert Harman to the thesis of general skepticism, according to which it is not possible to decide whether knowledge (in its general form) is at all possible.
Keith Lehrer modified the model of thinking by replacing the genius malignus with "googols", evil aliens.
Hilary Putnam provides a detailed discussion of the brain-in-tank problem . In doing so, he develops strong semantic arguments against most of the classic variants of the brain-in-tank hypothesis. So, according to Putnam, you can know that you are not a brain in a tank.
See also
literature
- Hilary Putnam: Representation and reality. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-518-58090-6
Web links
- Entry in Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . - specifically addresses Putnam's approach
- Elaboration of Putnam's brain-in-tank argument by Olaf Müller