Blaise Pascal's Wager Essay

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One of the most discussed questions in philosophy is that of the existence of God. While many address whether God actually exists or not, Blaise Pascal takes a different approach. Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher. He is most known for his foundational contributions to physics and math, and the creation of the first mechanical calculator. In addition, Pascal also established an important application to the theory of God’s existence. This application, known as Pascal’s Wager, is a theory that says one should believe in God for most optimal results. The Wager suggests that it is a better gamble to believe that God exists than not to believe, because the expected value of believing (which Pascal assessed as infinite) is always greater than the expected value of not believing. While some may accept this as valid, there are many objections to the Wager. One should not believe in God by reason of the Wager.
Pascal’s Wager begins with the proclamation that God does or does not exist. There are no other options. One reaction to this is to live as though God exists. Pascal claims that if God exists, you go to heaven and your gain is infinite. If God does not exist, you lose nothing. The second reaction is to live as though God does not exist. In …show more content…

While I am not sure of the specific sect of Christianity Pascal believed in, I do know that there are many who believe that God will not condemn someone just because they did not believe in him. While asking friends about their beliefs regarding to this issue, I actually found more believed that God would not chastise someone for not believing. Obviously, Pascal believed in the existence of a different God who would condemn those for their absence of belief, but what if the God that did exist did not? Pascal could have easily miscalculated the risks

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