Pascal's Wager

Pascal’s wager is one of Blaise Pascal’s, a 17th century French philosopher and mathematician, most famous works. It is included in the work titled Pensees (thoughts) and was published posthumously in 1670. According to Pascal one cannot come to the knowledge of God’s existence through reason alone, therefore one should live life as if God does exist, and if he does indeed exist then we have gained heaven. If god doesn’t exist, then we have lost nothing. Although let’s just say god does exist,…

One either believes that there is a God that exists, or there is not. While there are numerous opinions on God’s existence, Blaise Pascal, author of “The Wager”, believes that there is a God. However, according to Pascal, a French philosopher, we cannot fully comprehend God. “The Wager”, which includes a psychological argument, consists of individuals who are willing to risk their own lives and bet on the existence of God. Essentially, the argument of this work is between philosophy and…

Introduction I’m going to start this paper with introducing the history of Pascal’s Triangle, time ranging from 2nd century BC to 18th century AD. Among all the academic works by ancient mathematicians, I’m going to focus on Jiu Zhang Suan Shu [Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art] composed by Chinese scholars around 2nd century BC-10th century AD. I will use the binomial expansions derived from Pascal’s triangle as an example and then illustrate the coefficients expansion in general. After…

raises a wager which seeks to prove that it is more rational to believe in God rather than to not believe because you gain more by believing. In this paper, I will provide support to this wager in showing that you acquire a greater reward by believing in God. I will primarily outline Pascal’s Wager, then respond to one criticism raised that attempts to refute premise two (the expected results of belief and disbelief). This criticism states that there are many other gods that the wager does not…

“It is in your interest to believe that God exists.” Do you agree? Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of the 17 century proposed a wager, that indeed, it is in your interest to believe in God. Pascal’s wager is as follows: If God exists and you believe in Him, you will go to heaven upon death and have infinite happiness, while if He does exists but you do not believe in Him, you will go to hell upon dying and experience infinite suffering. If God does not exist but…

In this essay, I will show that Blaise Pascal is wrong to think that it is rational to wager “that God is.” My first step in defending this thesis will be to review Pascal’s argument that it is rational to bet “that God is.” I will then try to undermine his view by showing how it supports implausible claims. For example, the premise of Pascal’s wager assumes that receiving infinite reward in the afterlife rests upon belief in one true God. However, infinite reward in the afterlife may be linked…

will argue that Blaise Pascal’s argument for the wager can be falsified. He says that “one ought to bring oneself to believe in God because it is rational to wager or bet ‘that God is’”. The wager Pascal discusses encompasses the idea of finite and infinite gains and losses. According to Pascal, if you gain, you gain all and if you lose, you lose nothing. This concluding that one must wager to believe or not. I will offer an explanation of why he believes it is rational to wager that God exists.…

will be analyzing Blaise Pascal’s argument that one should bring themselves to believe in God because it is logical to wager or bet “that God is”. I will first outline his three premises of the wager and then I will have a criticism that is held against him. Specifically, the criticism is towards his second premise which states, “you must wager. It is not optional”. Lastly, I will be responding to that criticism, since I am agreeing with Pascal’s premise. Pascal’s wager consists of the…

The argument for the existence of God I find those most interesting is the Cosmological argument. The Cosmological argument starts with the idea that everything in nature has an explanatory or sensible sequence. For these sequences to exist and be so efficient it must be concluded that something must have caused them and put them into place, a thing that was not just another part of nature or sequence. To fully sum up and conclude this argument it must be put together that a powerful force or…

The principal issue I would present is that of his esteeming. The principal issue is with Pascal's assessment of an existence worshiping a false God. Time considered for the Worshiping of God, ought to be taken demonstrating this to really be a misfortune, and undoubtedly a bogus love of a God could bring about sudden passing by method for religious…