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((Short description|Category of thought experiment))
((More citations needed|date=September 2023))

In [[thought experiment]]s, philosophers and scientists occasionally imagine entities with special abilities as a way to pose [[thought experiment]] or highlight apparent [[paradox]]es.  

The word "demon" here does not necessarily connotate a [[demon]], a malevolent being. For instance, when [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)]] came up with the [[Maxwell's demon]], to highlight the implications of [[James Clerk Maxwell]] statistical interpretation of [[thermodynamics]]. He used the term in analogy to [[Daimon|daemons]] in [[Greek mythology]], supernatural beings as unseen forces of nature.<ref name="Aiv9S">((cite journal|first=William|last=Thomson|date=9 April 1874|title=Kinetic theory of the dissipation of energy|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=9 |issue=232|pages=441–444 |doi=10.1038/009441c0|bibcode=1874Natur...9..441T |author-link=William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|doi-access=free))</ref><ref name="Tqxmq">((cite journal|year=1879|title=The sorting demon of Maxwell|journal=Nature|volume=20|issue=501|pages=126|bibcode=1879Natur..20Q.126.|doi=10.1038/020126a0|doi-access=free))</ref><ref name="Weber">((cite book|first=Alan S.|last=Weber|year=2000|title=Nineteenth Century Science: a Selection of Original Texts|publisher=[[Broadview Press]]|page=300))</ref>

== Notable examples ==
* [[Darwinian Demon|Darwinian demon]] – Hypothetical organism which can simultaneously maximize all aspects of its fitness.
* [[Evil demon]] – Cartesian skepticism (also called methodological skepticism) advocates the doubting of all things that cannot be justified through logic. [[René Descartes]] uses three arguments to cast doubt on our ability to know objectively: the [[dream argument]], the deceiving God argument, and the malicious demon argument.<ref>[http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dcarg.htm Important Arguments from Descartes' Meditations] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926010641/http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dcarg.htm |date=2017-09-26 )) by [http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/ David Banach] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913051335/http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/ |date=2017-09-13 )) Department of Philosophy, St. Anselm College (retrieved 8-24-2007)</ref> Since our senses cannot put us in contact with external objects themselves, but only with our mental images of such objects, we can have no absolute certainty that anything exists in the external world. In the evil demon argument Descartes proposes an entity who is capable of deceiving us to such a degree that we have reason to doubt the totality of what our senses tell us.
* [[Laplace's demon]] – Hypothetical all-knowing being who knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, and therefore could use [[Newton's laws]] to reveal the entire course of cosmic events, past and future. [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]] based the demon on the philosophical proposition of [[causal determinism]]. [[Roger Joseph Boscovich]] developed a more physical version of the same thought experiment, known as [[Roger Joseph Boscovich#Boscovich's demon|Boscovich's demon]], based on position, [[velocity]], direction and [[center of mass]].
* [[Maxwell's demon]] – Hypothetical being that can distinguish between fast and slow moving molecules.  If this demon only let fast moving molecules through a trapdoor to a container, the temperature inside the container would increase without any work being applied. According to [[James Clerk Maxwell]], such a scenario seems to violate the [[second law of thermodynamics]]. [[Leo Szilard]]'s refinement of Maxwell's demon in the context of [[information theory]] is sometimes referred to as [[Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory#Szilard's engine|Szilard's demon]].<ref>((cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=Jorge |title=Szilard's demon revisited |journal=Int J Theor Phys |date=1990 |volume=29 |issue=9 |pages=985–995 |doi=10.1007/BF00673684 |s2cid=121519335 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00673684 |access-date=August 13, 2023))</ref> The biological equivalent of Maxwell's "[[Maxwell's demon#Origin and history of the idea|finite being]]" is a [[molecular demon]]. According to [[Landauer's principle]], the demon must record the state of each molecule, and the eventual erasure of that information would return entropy to the system.<ref name="bennett">((Citation |author=Charles H. Bennett |title=Notes on Landauer's principle, Reversible Computation and Maxwell's Demon |url=http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos576/papers/bennett03.pdf |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=501–510 |year=2003 |arxiv=physics/0210005 |bibcode=2003SHPMP..34..501B |doi=10.1016/S1355-2198(03)00039-X |s2cid=9648186 |author-link=Charles H. Bennett (computer scientist) |access-date=2015-02-18)).</ref>
* In aphorism 341 of ''[[The Gay Science]]'', [[Nietzsche]] puts forth his [[eternal recurrence]] concept.  In it, he employs a demon with special metaphysical knowledge as an agent for forcing reevaluation of perspective on one's own life.
* Searle's demon – [[Homunculus]]-like being that reproduces intentional behaviour in someone's brain without neither the person nor the organism being intentional in themselves.<ref>((cite journal |last1=Savitt |first1=Steven F. |title=Searle's demon and the brain simulator. |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |date=1982 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=342–343 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X00012395 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/searles-demon-and-the-brain-simulator/2BF43BEAB7EFFDA527716991E15CD4A3 |access-date=August 13, 2023 |location=Department of Philosophy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada|s2cid=143547619 ))</ref> It was conceptualized by [[Philosophy of mind|philosopher of mind]] [[John Haugeland]] in criticizing [[John Searle]]'s theory of [[Biological naturalism#Criticism|biological naturalism]].<ref>Haugeland, John. (1980) "Artificial Intelligence". ''Behavioral and Brain Sciences''. vol. 3. pp.&nbsp;219–224.</ref>
* Morton's demon – Hypothetical being that stands at the gateway of a person's senses and lets in facts that agree with that person's beliefs while deflecting those that do not. This demon was devised by [[Young Earth Creationist|Young Earth creationist]] Glenn Morton to explain the phenomenon of [[confirmation bias]]. 
* Demon of bureaucratic chaos – Relates to the phenomenon that "blocks good things from happening" at the [[United States Department of Energy]]. This hypothesized entity makes it extremely difficult to complete complex projects — by frequently changing mission requirements, funding, and strategic direction. Examples include the [[Mirror Fusion Test Facility]], which was constructed but never turned on; the [[Superconducting Super Collider]], which cost $2 billion before its cancellation; and [[ITER]], the international fusion experiment in [[France]] that the [[United States]] has alternately supported and opposed, and to which it has threatened withdrawal, cut funding, and increased funding over the decades.<ref>((Cite web|title=The Demon of Bureaucratic Chaos|url=https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-demon-of-bureaucratic-chaos|access-date=2021-07-05|website=The New Atlantis|language=en-US))</ref>

==Similar entities==
There are other creatures which feature in thought experiments about philosophy. One such creature is a [[utility monster]], a creature which derives much more utility (such as enjoyment) from resources than other beings, and hence under a strict utilitarian system would have more or all of the available resources directed to it. [[Newcomb's paradox]] supposes a being who is believed to be capable of predicting human behavior; [[Robert Nozick]] suggested a "being from another planet, with an advanced technology and science, whom you know to be friendly".<ref name="nozick">((cite book |first=Robert |last=Nozick |title=Essays in Honor of Carl G. Hempel |chapter=Newcomb's Problem and Two Principles of Choice |page=114 |url=http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/rjohns/nozick_newcomb.pdf |editor-last=Rescher |editor-first=Nicholas |year=1969 |publisher=Springer |access-date=2015-02-22 |archive-date=2018-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123171838/http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/rjohns/nozick_newcomb.pdf |url-status=dead ))</ref>

==Further reading==
* ((cite book |last1=Canales |first1=Jimena |title=Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science |date=August 9, 2022 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691241685 |pages=416 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175324/bedeviled |access-date=August 13, 2023))
* ((cite book |last1=Weinert |first1=Friedel |title=The Demons of Science: What They Can and Cannot Tell Us About Our World |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-31707-6 |pages=251 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-31708-3 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-31708-3 |access-date=August 13, 2023))

==See also==
* [[Pines' demon]]

==References==
((reflist))

[[Category:Thought experiments]]
[[Category:Fictional demons]]

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