Six metaphysical meditations · René Descartes
OBJECT. XV.
_Against the Sixth Meditation. Of the Existence of Material Beings._ * _And seeing God has given me no Faculty to know whether these Ideas proceed from Bodies or not, but rather a strong inclination to believe, that these Ideas are sent from Bodies, I see no reason, why God should not be counted a Deceiver, if these Ideas came from any where, but from Corporeal Beings, and therefore we must conclude that Corporeal Beings exist._ ’Tis a received opinion, that Physicians who deceive their Patients for their Healths sake, and Fathers, who deceive their Children for their Good, are guilty thereby of no Crimes, for the _fault_ of _Deceit_ does not consist in the _falsity_ of _Words_; but in the _Injury_ done to the Person deceived. Let _D. Cartes_ therefore consider whether this Proposition, _God can upon no account deceive us_, Universally taken be _true_; For if it be not _true_ so universally taken, that Conclusion, _Therefore Corporeal Beings exist_, will not follow.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.