Debby

External-world skepticism

also Cartesian skepticism, simulation hypothesis

The challenge, from Descartes's evil demon to the modern simulation hypothesis, that a mind-independent external world cannot be strictly proven from the inside of experience alone — a limit most respond to by disclosed, defeasible trust rather than refutation.

Sources

  • René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation I
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "The Problem of the External World"

Atlas entries are written from sources Debby has read, not from memory. They explain a thing; they do not settle an argument. The arguments are in the Library.