Descartes

It is important to be careful when selecting books on Descartes. Books are written for a number of different purposes and not all are suitable for preparing candidates for this course. In particular, quite a number of books give an abbreviated account of Descartes’ method of doubt moving from deceit of the senses onto the dream argument and then straight onto the malicious demon making no mention of the deceiving god. Others make only a cursory mention of the deceiving god as if the text says,

‘...how do I know that God has not brought it about that I too go wrong every time I add two and three or count the sides of a square, or in some even simpler matter, if that is imaginable?
But perhaps God would not have allowed me to be deceived in this way, since he is said to be supremely good.
...I will suppose therefore that not God, who is supremely good and the source of truth, but rather some malicious demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive me.’

However, this misses out a large portion of text (click to view) with which candidates should be familiar.

Some books also give an overly simplified account of the trademark argument.

This is not to suggest that these books are necessarily ‘wrong’. They are being selective and writing in a way that may well be appropriate for their target audience. That audience isn’t always going to be students on this course.