For whether I am awake or
asleep, two and three together always form five, and the
square can never have more than four sides, and it does not
seem possible that truths so clear and apparent can be
suspected of any falsity [or uncertainty].
Nevertheless I have long had fixed in my mind the belief
that an all-powerful God existed by whom I have been created
such as I am. But how do I know that He has not brought it to
pass that there is no earth, no heaven, no extended body, no
magnitude, no place, and that nevertheless [I possess the
perceptions of all these things and that] they seem to me to
exist just exactly as I now see them? And, besides, as I
sometimes imagine that others deceive themselves in the things
which they think they know best, how do I know that I am not
deceived every time that I add two and three, or count the
sides of a square, or judge of things yet simpler, if anything
simpler can be imagined? But possibly God has not desired
that I should be thus deceived, for He is said to be supremely
good. If, however, it is contrary to His goodness to have
made me such that I constantly deceive myself, it would also
appear to be contrary to His goodness to permit me to be
sometimes deceived, and nevertheless I cannot doubt that He
does permit this.
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