Evil Demon Lab

As we've discussed in class, Descartes tells readers of his Mediations on First Philosophy that "...I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions for true, and that consequently what I afterward based on such principles was highly doubtful; and from that time I was convinced of the necessity of undertaking once in my life to rid myself of all the opinions I had adopted, and of commencing anew the work of building from the foundation, if I desired to establish a firm and abiding superstructure in the sciences."  To tear down his opinion structure Descartes looks to undermine the very foundations of all his opinions.  He locates that foundation when he tells readers that, "all that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through the senses."  To undermine his opinion edifice, then, Descartes seeks to undermine his senses.  As part of this attack on the epistemic status of the deliverances of the senses, he adopts the following principle: "...my reason convinces me that I ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly false, it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for doubt."  Descartes ultimately finds his grounds for doubting all his sensory judgments in the possibility that he is the victim of an evil deceiver.  "How, then, do I know that he has not arranged that there should be neither earth, nor sky, nor any extended thing, nor figure, nor magnitude, nor place, providing at the same time, however, for [the rise in me of the perceptions of all these objects, and] the persuasion that these do not exist otherwise than as I perceive them ?"

The Lab

To feel the full impact of Descartes' evil deceiver supposition you are going to use a remote chat to simulate life behind the veil of perception.  Recall that as Descartes conceives of it, perception of the world is under the complete control of a deity.  Thus, there is no other/independent source of information for a perceiver besides the information that the deity allows to pass through the veil of perception.  We will adopt a chat room format to serve as our veil and you will take turns playing the role of deity and perceiver.  I have assigned you a group.  There are two roles for you to play; (1) deity or demon and (2) perceiver.  The group member who plays the role of deity/demon answers the perceiver's ten questions about an object of the deity's/demon's choosing.  The person playing the deity/demon selects the role they wish to play; they can elect to either always lie or always tell the truth in answering perceiver's questions.  Here are some suggestions for the deity/demon: (1) If you are the deity/demon select two objects for that round, the real object and an object to describe if you are lying, then flip a coin.  If the coin lands on heads, you are beneficent and answer all questions about the real object truthfully.  If the coin lands on tails, you are an evil deceiver and always answer questions with a lie about the real object.  To  make it easier to generate consistent and rapid lies, use the second object to generate an easy flowing and consistent set of lies.   If you are the perceiver you must ask ten yes/no questions about the object the deity/demon has chosen.  Your goal is to figure out the nature of the deity/demon (beneficent truth-teller or evil deceiver) and what object the deity/demon is describing.  You can give your answers before you have asked all ten questions if you think you don't need anymore information.   After the perceiver's ten questions (or earlier if they like) they must tell the deity/demon (1) whether or not they think that they are the beneficent deity or an evil deceiver and (2) what object the deity/demon was supposed to be describing.  The deity gets the point if the perceiver guesses wrong on either (1) or (2).  If the perceiver guesses correctly on (1) and (2), then they get the point.  The goal of the lab is to score a higher number of points than your partners.  Alternate between the perceiver and the deity roles until you have each had at least two turns as deity and two turns as perceiver. 

Using Chat

First check and see who the members of your group are for this assignment by consulting the group list in the syllabus tab on the contents page.  I have randomly assigned you into groups of two or three people each.   Contact your group members and arrange a time to meet and a forum.  You can use e-mail, messenger programs, (like facebook, whatsapp, twitter, or phone texting) or Zoom.  I suggest that you use Zoom withthe video and sound turned off.  Please make sure that whatever forum you choose all the group members have access and they are willing to do the lab on that forum.  If you use Zoom or other apps with video or audio capability please turn of the video and sound and rely on text chat.  It's better not to use audio or video chat since you might not have a good poker face/voice, you might accidentally show your object, etc..  You need at least two members to do the lab, but make every effort to meet with all your group members.  At your agreed-upon time in your agreed upon forum rotate through the your group so that each person has two turns at perceiver and two turns as deity/demon following the lab instructions in the section above.
 

Answering the Lab Questions

After you have finished the lab, go to the assignments page on beachboard and click on the evil demon lab and answer the questions about your experience doing the lab.