‘Animale- macchina’ e ‘genio maligno’: due idee non cartesiane nell’Harmonie universelle di Mersenne

Abstract

In this note I criticize Robert Lenoble’s thesis concerning the presence of beast-machine theory in Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636-37). I claim that the paragraph on which Lenoble grounds his interpretation presents, instead, a central concept for the Cartesian studies, namely that of the ‘evil genius’. The evil genius argument is used by Mersenne in relation to the problem of perception and knowledge, moreover, it is used against skepticism before the publication of Descartes Discours de la méthode.

English title: The ‘animal-machine’ and the ‘evil genius’: two non-Cartesian ideas in Mersenne's Harmonie universelle