Descartes, Bayle and Academic skepticism. Regarding an objection by Cicero

Abstract

Could a god present as real things that are false? This question, which Cicero formulated in the Academica and in the context of his objection to the stoic concept of wisdom, acquired an unexpected force within the Christian civilization, governed by the idea of an omnipotent God. It was subject of discussion in the Middle Ages and reached Modern Philosophy through René Descartes. In this paper, we begin by presenting Cicero’s objection, and, secondly, we show the renewal that it had in some medieval disputes. We arrive finally at Descartes’ philosophy, where we analyze the hypothesis of a deceiver God, as well as some of the objections that were made to it and the answers that the author offered. Our conclusion is that this super skeptical hypothesis, as a result of the idea of an almighty God, is located at the very heart of Cartesianism, something that will be noticed by Pierre Bayle half a century later.