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:
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