The pascals wager is a very popular argument among theists and deists as well. 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. Feb 28, 2016 this issue bears a similarity to pascals wager on the existence of god. The rejection of pascals wager brief refutation of pascal by paul tobin. Pascal s wager was originally put forth by blaise pascal, a 17 th century philosopher and mathematician. If there is a god, he is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, he has no affinity to us. He said that it is not possible to prove or disprove that god exists. Pascals wager vatican observatory foundation faith and science. Warren buffet, climate change and pascals wager watts.
Pascals wager, discussed in his pensees, has provoked discussion and strong views ever since its. Our soul has been cast into the body, where it finds number, time and dimension. By engaging with themes such as decision theory, the finetuning of the universe, divine hiddenness, the problem of evil, the historicity of the resurrection and the nature of miracles, he probes the many dynamics at work in embracing. We shall see that pascals wager fails as a result of its reliance on jansenist. Pascals wager or pascals gambit is the name for an idea that blaise pascal had. Pascals wager, jordan argued, may be viewed as a kind of last ditch argument for apologists and theism 24. But pascals wager suggests that atheists like me should leave their sinful ways and start believing in god because it is the most logical and beneficial choice. It has no scientific utility, since asserting without evidence that a creator being made the universe has no more explanatory power than saying the universe emerges from the properties of spacetime.
It posits that humans bet with their lives that god either exists or does not. In that case, pascals wager provides a rational reason to continue to believe in god. A live hypothesis is a proposition whose adoption would not. In conclusion, pascals wager, while an interesting piece of philosophical thought, should have no place in a christians evangelistic and apologetic repertoire. See bostrom on infinite ethics for how much worse things get if you allow nonhalting turing machines. Warren buffet, climate change and pascals wager watts up. This is a plausible principle, and one which is employed in some versions of pascals wager. Apr 24, 2017 pascals the wager is a reading that stands out most to me so far because he argues the real way believe in god is through our passions. Mar 17, 2009 pascal s wager is actually a serious problem for those of us who want to use kolmogorov complexity as an occam prior, because the size of even the finite computations blows up much faster than their probability diminishes see here. It is an argument why one should consider spiritual matters and the reality claims made in the bible in comparison to a naturalistic worldview. Pascals wager superb analysis of the argument by alan hajek. 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. 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. Rota considers pascal s wager and the roles of uncertainty, evidence and faith in making a commitment to god.
If god existed, and the person believed in god, he would be rewarded with happiness forever. Pascal s wager or pascal s gambit is the name for an idea that blaise pascal had. While pascals wager really doesnt even come close to proving god, it can be useful to get someone to consider the importance of investigating the reality of the creator. While pascals wager really doesnt even come close to proving god, it can be useful to get someone to consider the importance of investigating the reality of the creator s existence. The name is somewhat misleading, for in a single section of his pensees, pascal apparently presents at least three such arguments, each of which might be called a wagerit is only the final of. Taking pascals wager by michael rota overdrive rakuten. Pascal s wager has fascinated philosophers far in excess of its reputation as effective apologetics. Learn pascal wager with free interactive flashcards. It was one of the first efforts to incorporate the concept. Therefore pascal s wager is invalid as an argument. Pascal, who is said to be the father of modern probability, felt that that religion should be approached as a gamble. Pascals wager routledge encyclopedia of philosophy. At that point youre just assuming god values those who believe more, but the problem of evil shows that you can claim to be religious or nonreligious and you can.
It only calculates with two options when there are, in fact, at least four alternatives. If you were to speak to the average theist or atheist one would think pascals wager is an argument for the existence of godit isnt. If the christian god does not exist, the agnostic loses little by believing in him and gains correspondingly little by not believing. Hence it comes that, if there are as many risks on one side as on the other, the course is to play even. Blaise pascal biography from the catholic encyclopedia. Choose from 40 different sets of pascal wager flashcards on quizlet.
If the christian god does not exist, the agnostic loses little by believing in him and gains. Chinese mathematician jia xian devised a triangular representation for the coefficients in the 11th century. On the face of it, it is quite convincing but it falls apart once you seriously examine it. Drange the argument call it pw may be formulated as follows.
Seems to me that, intuitively speaking, why one chooses to believe is just as important as whether one does, in fact, believe. It is an argument why one should consider spiritual matters and the reality claims made in the. Pascals wager is an argument for the existence of god developed by 17th century mathematician and philosopher blaise pascal. Pascals wager is actually a serious problem for those of us who want to use kolmogorov complexity as an occam prior, because the size of even the finite computations blows up much faster than their probability diminishes see here. Pragmatic arguments for theism are designed to motivate and support belief even in the absence of strong evidence. Pascals wager is an argument in philosophy presented by the seventeenth century french. Its the difference, in kantian terms, between believing as a means to an end, and believing as an end in itself. If god does exist and you choose to believe in god, then your reward is very high eternal life in heaven. I cant imagine that there is an omnipotent god who watches over all of us. Blaise pascal 16231662 offers a pragmatic reason for believing in god.
In his pensees 165758, pascal posed the following argument to show that belief in the christian religion is rational. Jordan, jeff, editor 1994a gambling on god, lanham md. The christian god and afterlife, some other god and afterlife, atheism with afterlife, and atheism without afterlife. If i saw everywhere the marks of a creator, i would repose peacefully in faith. Pascals wager simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though god exists and seek to believe in god. Pascals wager attempts to bring the sceptic to the point of desiring belief in. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play since you. Although it is a utterly fallacious argument, it is still used for selfsatisfaction. An argument often used by religious people is that they have nothing to lose by believing in god and that atheists are risking eternity in hell for no gain. Rota considers pascals wager and the roles of uncertainty, evidence and faith in making a commitment to god. 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. Very few of the wager s defenders, in fact, have retained more than an academic interest in its power to persuade. Pascals wager is an argument in philosophy presented by the seventeenthcentury french philosopher, mathematician and physicist, blaise pascal 16231662.
So we may well know that there is a god without knowing what he is. Reason cannot settle which way we should incline, but a consideration of the relevant outcomes supposedly can. If the christian god does exist, the agnostic gains. It is named for the 17thcentury french mathematician blaise pascal, but it is far older. May 06, 2012 the flaws of pascals wager an argument often used by religious people is that they have nothing to lose by believing in god and that atheists are risking eternity in hell for no gain.
Pascals wager excerpted from pens ees, available on project gutenberg. Pascals claim that if you lose, you lose nothing is some indication that he thought that belief dominated non belief. Pascals the wager is a reading that stands out most to me so far because he argues the real way believe in god is through our passions. May 23, 2016 today we conclude our unit on philosophy of religion and hank gets a little help from indiana jones to explain religious pragmatism and pascals wager, fideism, and kierkegaards leap to faith. Pascal is supposed to have pitched his wager at folks who understand only selfinterested. In this wireless philosophy video, susanna rinard harvard university explains pascals wager, blaise pascals famous argument for belief in god. He defines two sources in a humans belief formations. Pascals wager vatican observatory foundation faith and.
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. Pascals wager has fascinated philosophers far in excess of its reputation as effective apologetics. 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. Known as the early journal content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other. Suppose someone you loved lay dying, and the doctor offered to try a new miracle drug that he could not guarantee but that would have a 5050 chance of saving your beloveds life.
Pascal, it may be recalled, argued that if there were only a tiny probability that god truly existed, it made sense to behave as if he did because the rewards could be infinite whereas the lack of belief risked eternal misery. 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. Pascals wager is the most famous part of his collection of notes known as the pensees. Its argument is rooted in what has subsequently become known as game theory. This leads us to the conclusion that we should pick the. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. Today we conclude our unit on philosophy of religion and hank gets a little help from indiana jones to explain religious pragmatism and pascals wager, fideism, and.
The argument from superdominance pascal maintains that we are incapable of knowing whether god exists or not, yet we must wager one way or the other. Very few of the wagers defenders, in fact, have retained more than an academic interest in its power to persuade. Pascals wager, practical argument for belief in god formulated by blaise pascal. With the wager, pascal attempted to provide a compelling reason to believe in god based upon happiness and possible outcomes.
After all, suppose one were to come up with an argument which convinced you that the truth of theism is quite unlikely indeed. 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 or pascals gambit the name for an idea that blaise pascal had. No one disputes the fact that two plus two equals four. Pascals wager about god internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Pascals wager is the product of the gain from a certain belief and the probability that it is the correct one in pascals reasoning 5050, but as mentioned above the probability is much less. Pascals wager assumes that the entire universe of possibilities consists of. Christians are to share and proclaim the gospel of jesus christ, which alone is the power of.
Jul 28, 2014 pascals wager, jordan argued, may be viewed as a kind of last ditch argument for apologists and theism 24. This essentially is what has become known as pascals wager, a barebones approach to challenging the folly of unbelief. 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. Pascals wager a good summary of the argument by paul saka. But, seeing too much to deny and too little to be sure, i am in a state to be pitied. 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. Pdf on jan 12, 1991, graham oppy and others published on rescher. Pascals wager is an argument posed by the mathematician and physicist blaise pascal to deal with gods existence to help explain here is an illustration. Pascals wager, which he used as a proof of god, 3 is often used when illustrating decision theory, 4 particularly minimizing your losses.
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