philosophy help?? just a few questions about Descartes!?

[AM1022]

1. What is the full title of Descartes "Mediations?"
2. What is the Evil Demon Hypothesis?
3. What is "Law of Conservation of Ontology?"

Thanks for all the help!

[Christopher F]

1. The proper title is "Meditations on First Philosophy" It has an elaborate subtitle too. "In which the existence of God and the real distinction of mind and body are demonstrated."

2. The "evil demon" hypothesis is a version of what we might call the "Matrix hypothesis," after the movie. Descartes imagined that a powerful evil demon could be fooling him into thinking that he is sitting in front of a stove, that there is earth below him and a blue sky above. The reality might be unimaginably different, and the demon may be hiding him from it. This was part of Descartes effort to doubt everything that can possibly be doubted.

3. I can't help you with (3). I believe Descartes had a law of the conservation of force, but I don't know whether he had the more general sort of law that this phrase suggests.Look around in the article to which I'll link you below and see if I've missed something.