hypothesized that due to the possibility of very realistic dreams humans can only believe that we're awake. Through the systematic procedure of 'phenomenological reduction', one is thought to be able to suspend judgment regarding the general or naive philosophical belief in the existence of the external world, and thus examine phenomena as they are originally given to consciousness. However, by the end of The Meditations, he concludes that in retrospect we can certainly distinguish dreaming and reality: "But when I distinctly see where things come from and where and when they come to me, and when I can connect my perceptions of them with my whole life without a break then I can be certain that when I encounter these things I am not asleep but awake." — Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings Dreaming is also a starting position for the speculation that we may be living in a simulation. Proponents of this viewpoint will sometimes argue that a particular type of simulated reality occurs nightly. The basic claim is that opponents of the simulation hypothesis that a sleeping mind is an unreliable mechanism for differentiated reality from illusion. The Evil Demon The idea of the "evil demon" (also known as the "malicious demon" or "evil genius") is one of several methods of systematic doubt employed in the Meditations.'' Descartes reasoned that it could be possible for what he referred to as an evil demon to be controlling our experiences. There are some Cartesian scholars whom opine that the demon is omnipotent though omnipotence of the evil demon would be contrary to Descartes' hypothesis, as he rebuked accusations of the demon having omnipotence. References See also Agnosticism Bracketing Scientific method Concepts in epistemology Civil law (common law) Skepticism