In conclusion, pascals wager, while an interesting piece of philosophical thought, should have no place in a christians evangelistic and apologetic repertoire. Pascals wager is an argument that asserts that one should believe in god, even if gods existence cannot be proved or disproved through reason blaise pascals original wager was as a fairly short paragraph in pensees amongst several other notes that could be considered wagers. Sep 28, 2015 i propose to reformulate pascals wager as urging those who doubt gods existence to embrace a doubt of desire rather than a doubt of indifference. No, its not a good argument, not even from the christian perspective. As terence penelhum has noted, many philosophers feel it is somehow a professional obligation not to accept it. A live hypothesis is a proposition whose adoption would not. Famously, pascals wager purports to show that a prudentially rational person should. Full text of pascal s wager see other formats stop early journal content on jstor, free to anyone in the world this article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in the world by jstor. He said that it is not possible to prove or disprove that god exists. Pascals wager is part of wikiproject atheism, which aims to organize, expand, clean up and guide wikipedia articles relating to atheism. Introduction pascals wager cambridge university press. In this form pascal s wager is a problem in decision making under uncertainty, a decision in which the outcome is uncertain and the probabilities of the outcome are unknown. Reconstruct pascals wager as carefully as possible. This observation in turn helps us to diagnose a chief failing of the canonical wager.
Learn pascal wager with free interactive flashcards. If the christian god does exist, the agnostic gains. This does not excuse a person from at least trying to discover if there is a god or not and who he might be. Pascals wager page 4 of 16 as i know not whence i come, so i know not whither i go. In fact, pascals argument about the wager is rooted in game theory. This paper adds pascals wager to a very longrun growth model where time. Pascal s mugging refers to a thought experiment in decision theory, a finite analogue of pascal s wager. Such is my state, full of weakness and uncertainty.
Pascal s wager has fascinated philosophers far in excess of its reputation as effective apologetics. Your contribution will go a long way in helping us. In this wireless philosophy video, susanna rinard harvard university explains pascals wager, blaise pascals famous argument for belief in god. You can modify pascals wager to suggest a course of action for people coming from a different understanding of religion e.
Pascals wager is blaise pascals famous philosophical argument that belief in god is justified as a good bet, regardless of any metaphysical uncertainty, because disbelief has great cost if wrong, while belief if wrong costs nothing it states that if you were to analyse your options of religion carefully, you would come out with the following possibilities. If you are not struggling with this issue the wager does not apply to. Pascals wager is the name given to an argument put forward by the french philosopher and mathematician blaise pascal in the 17th century. Pascals wager as an argument for not believing in god. We shall see that pascals wager fails as a result of its reliance on jansenist. Pascals wager about god internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Pascals wager is the name given to an argument due to blaise pascal for believing, or for at least taking steps to believe, in god. Pascals wager, socalled because it was devised by the brilliant catholic philosopher blaise pascal 16231662, is an apologetics method in the form of a wager aimed at getting atheists and agnostics to consider the possibility that god exists and that there is a heaven and hell. His argument for belief in god was based not on an appeal to evidence that god exists, but rather on the idea that it is in our own interests to believe in god and it is therefore rational for us to do so. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false.
Cobb philosophy and literature, volume 3, number 2, fall 1979, pp. Pascal s wager or pascal s gambit is the name for an idea that blaise pascal had. It reasons thereupon,and calls it nature, necessity, and can believe nothing else. It shows that the best course of action is to believe in god, whatever might be the condition, because that option gives the biggest gain apart from the existence of god or his nonexistence. Rouse balls a short account of the history of mathematics by d. Pascals wager has fascinated philosophers far in excess of its reputation as effective apologetics. B this article has been rated as bclass on the projects quality scale. If you are not struggling with this issue the wager does not apply to you.
Pascals wager is one of the great classic arguments for belief in god. As many scholars have pointed out, pascal was not so naive as to suppose that one could believe in god by an act of willhowever, he did think that belief could be developed by acting in certain religious. Swinburne in the christian wager, religious studies iv 1969, 21728. Mar 24, 2017 in this wireless philosophy video, susanna rinard harvard university explains pascal s wager, blaise pascal s famous argument for belief in god. Christians are to share and proclaim the gospel of jesus christ, which alone is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes romans 1.
It posits that humans bet with their lives that god either exists or does not pascal argues that a rational person should live as though god exists and seek to believe in god. Pascals wager is an argument in philosophy presented by the seventeenthcentury french philosopher, mathematician and physicist, blaise pascal 16231662. Pragmatic arguments for theism are designed to motivate and support belief even in the absence of strong evidence. In his pensees 165758, pascal posed the following argument to show that belief in the christian religion is rational. Pascals approach to the latter question is that he thinks that we can answer it without. Pascals wordsor rather, translations of his words into.
As terence penelhum has noted, many philosophers feel it is. Using either of the two wellknown rules of decision making under uncertaintythe maximax or minimax ruleone should believe in god. He is considered to be the father of modern probability theory. Pascal s reasoning was that since nothing is known for certainity, the christian faith may be as good as any other belief, and since the possible gain from belief is so much greater than the possible gain from unbelief, christianity was the bet that gave the highest gain. With the wager, pascal attempted to provide a compelling reason to believe in god based upon happiness and possible outcomes. Ive been having doubts about the mathematics of infinity. Penseesanalogous to hypnosis or to joining the flat earth society. Our soul has been cast into the body, where it finds number, time and dimension. Pascals wager, discussed in his pensees, has provoked discussion and strong. I propose to reformulate pascals wager as urging those who doubt gods existence to embrace a doubt of desire rather than a doubt of indifference. Really, the wager played a pretty small part in this book and probably in all of pascals work as a scientist and apologist for a conservative type of christianity called jansenism.
As a christian pascal had to combine belief in a loving and lovable. So far we have discussed a number of arguments for or against the. Connor spends quite a bit of time on pascal s vacuum experiments which i found hard to follow or to be very interested in. Pascal s wager religion an argument for theism and specifically christianity, according to the writer maintaining that belief in christianity ensures happiness in this life and offers the possibility of eternal happiness should god exist, whereas atheism, even if it brings happiness in this life, offers no hope of eternal happiness. The philosophical logic that sustains pascals wager can be formulated as following. Pascals wager is the most famous part of his collection of notes known as the pensees. If god existed, and the person believed in god, he would be rewarded with happiness forever. The idea behind it is that, if all things were equal, its better to believe than not to believe, because the consequences of believing and being wrong nothing compared to th. Blaise pascal was a 17th century french philosopher, theologian, and. Pascals wager is an argument for the existence of god developed by 17th century mathematician and philosopher blaise pascal.
If you would like to participate, you can edit this article and visit the project page. In addition, pascals wager does not prove the existence of gd, but the logic in believing or striving to believe in him. Pascals wager ontario consultants on religious tolerance. Pascals wager routledge encyclopedia of philosophy. The name is somewhat misleading, for in a single paragraph of his pensees, pascal apparently presents at least three such arguments, each of which might be called a wager it is only the final of these that is traditionally referred to as. Here there is no fallacy involved in joining the band and driving on the left. Very few of the wager s defenders, in fact, have retained more than an academic interest in its power to persuade.
Is it safer to believe in god even if there is no proof that one exists. This means, first, that they should hope and therefore desire that they might find a higher meaning and value to their existence by making contact with a beneficent power beyond the. Pascals reasoning was that since nothing is known for certainity, the christian faith may be as good as any other belief, and since the possible gain from belief is so much greater than the possible gain from unbelief, christianity was the bet that gave the highest gain. Pascal s wager is a method using the sort of odds calculations in gambling which he loved for choosing between two and only two options believing in the god of orthodox christianity, and not believing in him. I know only that, in leaving this world, i fall for ever either into annihilation or into the hands of an angry god, without knowing to which of these two states i shall be for ever assigned. Its argument is rooted in what has subsequently become known as game theory. Jan 02, 2020 in conclusion, pascals wager, while an interesting piece of philosophical thought, should have no place in a christians evangelistic and apologetic repertoire. Is pascals wager a good argument for believing in god. Blaise pascal 16231662 offers a pragmatic reason for believing in god.
Blaise pascal 16231662 was a 17 th century french mathematician and scientist who, sadly, died at the age of 39 in a vehicle accident. Connor spends quite a bit of time on pascals vacuum experiments which i found hard to follow or to be very interested in. Some pascalians propose combining pragmatic and epistemic factors in a. Pascals mugging refers to a thought experiment in decision theory, a finite analogue of pascals wager. Pascals wager does not define which god to believe in since in many religions believing in a different god brings a punishing judgment. Very few of the wagers defenders, in fact, have retained more than an academic interest in its power to persuade. Between you and me, some of the critiques ive seen have made me wonder whether i. Known as the early journal content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other. Post jobs, find pros, and collaborate commissionfree in our professional marketplace. Pascals wager, practical argument for belief in god formulated by blaise pascal. Mid this article has been rated as midimportance on the projects importance scale. Infinite values lead to many strange conclusions and paradoxes.
A rational person would act according to whichever set of different religious traditions that promise infinite consequences and do not conflict with each other, weighted by which set he thinks. Oct 01, 2006 really, the wager played a pretty small part in this book and probably in all of pascal s work as a scientist and apologist for a conservative type of christianity called jansenism. Pascals wager or pascals gambit is the name for an idea that blaise pascal had. Explain whether you consider pascals wager a proof of gods existence or not. Pascals wager is a method using the sort of odds calculations in gambling which he loved for choosing between two and only two options believing in the god of orthodox christianity, and not believing in him. Pascals wager assumes that the god can be fooled by pretended belief, worshipping. Clarify the meaning of pascals sentence, the heart has its reasons which reason does not know. The essential component of the argument is the relative payoffs and costs for. Pascal, who is said to be the father of modern probability, felt that that religion should be approached as a gamble. Religious conversion, selfdeception, and pascals wager ward e. Now suppose someone comes to me and says, give me five dollars, or ill use my magic powers from outside the matrix to run a turing machine that simulates and. What major objections can you construct to the wager. Choose from 40 different sets of pascal wager flashcards on quizlet. Christians are to share and proclaim the gospel of jesus christ, which alone is the power of.
What is distinctive about pascals approach to the latter question is that he thinks that we can answer it without. It posits that humans bet with their lives that god either exists or does not. Pascals wager simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. You know the reasoning that has come to be known as pascals wager. The wikipedias entry article summarizing some of the major approaches to choice under uncertainty including mention of pascal together with extensive references is an excellent starting place to learn something of decision theory. Examining two objections to pascals wager pascals wager has been the subject of protracted philosophical interest since its posthumous appearance over three centuries ago. Pascals wager puts the choice and onus on the individual, whereas, the atheist wager places the onus on gd without a clear foundation. If the christian god does not exist, the agnostic loses little by believing in him and gains correspondingly little by not believing. Pascal argued that, while its impossible to prove whether or not god exists, people should believe in god anyway.
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