Foreword by Rebecca Goldstein vii
Preface to the Princeton Edition xiii
Preface xvii
Part One: THE FIRST MEDITATION
CHAPTER 1: Introduction 3
CHAPTER 2: The General Overthrow of Belief 19
CHAPTER 3: The Criterion of Doubt 32
CHAPTER 4: The Perception of the Physical World 43
CHAPTER 5: The Strategy of the First Meditation 60
CHAPTER 6: Simple and Universal Things 75
CHAPTER 7: Mathematics in the First Meditation 84
CHAPTER 8: Mathematics and the Omnipotent Deceiver 93
CHAPTER 9: Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen 108
Part Two: REASON AND ITS VALIDATION
CHAPTER 10: Sum 123
CHAPTER 11: Sum res cogitans 154
CHAPTER 12: Clear and Distinct Perception 175
CHAPTER 13: Objections to Descartes's Rule of Evidence 200
CHAPTER 14: Memory and Doubt 215
CHAPTER 15: The Validation of Reason 235
CHAPTER 16: Truth and Reality: The Galileo Controversy 250
Index 257

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller On Bullshit, a landmark account of Descartes, reason, and truth
In this classic work, philosopher and bestselling author Harry Frankfurt provides a compelling analysis of the question that not only lies at the heart of Descartes's Meditations, but also constitutes the central preoccupation of modern philosophy: on what basis can reason claim to provide any justification for the truth of our beliefs? Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen provides an ingenious account of Descartes's defense of reason against his own famously skeptical doubts that he might be a madman, dreaming, or, worse yet, deceived by an evil demon into believing falsely.
Frankfurt's masterful and imaginative reading of Descartes's seminal work not only stands the test of time; one imagines Descartes himself nodding in agreement.

Harry G. Frankfurt (1929-2023) was professor of philosophy emeritus at Princeton University. His books include the #1 New York Times bestseller On Bullshit, On Inequality, and The Reasons of Love (all Princeton).