Descartes and the evil genius

Answer 1

Descartes creates the evil genius in an attempt to throw everything that he thinks he knows into question.

The evil genius has god-like power that he uses to deceive Descartes. Descartes cannot disprove the existence of such a creature. You cannot trust your thoughts in such a scenario, thus Descartes cannot be certain that any of the information he gets from his senses, his memories, his thoughts, or his beliefs is real.

Answer 2

René Descartes introduced the concept of the evil genius in his philosophical work to highlight radical skepticism. The evil genius is a hypothetical being that deceives our senses and understanding of reality, leading Descartes to doubt all knowledge acquired through the senses. This doubt serves as the foundation for Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am") argument as a starting point for building his system of knowledge.