1. Introduction:
a. -Religion has been around as long humans, no matter how you believe they were created
-Christianity (what Pascal uses as the basis of his argument) is one of, if not the biggest religions in the world
-The wager is part of Apologetic philosophy, meaning that Pascal is defending his position/belief in an argument with the use of information
-Pascal’s wager was meant to show that while not believing in God will only have loss of some things, believing in God will allow you to gain everything.
b. Thesis: Pascal’s Wager calls for the need for people to choose to believe in something, to allow them the chance of gaining more than ever, and with that your chances for gain will be higher with the belief of a god, but the highest with the belief in the God of the Bible.
c. –since Christianity is the largest religion globally, it has the most people behind it meaning that the probability of God existing is higher with that many people in the religion, and with the belief you gain infinitely if God does exist.
-the Wager has been proven to show that it has been said to “gambling people” in order to make them think about converting to Christianity; wagers involve probability as does gambling, so the gamblers have the mind ready to think of everything involved in wagering, so they know the best way to go about choosing their outcome in the wager
-logically, the belief in God is there because the Wager shows the outcomes of each possibility, and only one is good, which is believing in God and he does exist. If that were to come true, then you can gain everything, while believing and the existence being false, you don’t lose too much.
2. Explanatory Paragraph
a. Pascal’s Wager is #233 of the Pensées and talks about how on...
... middle of paper ...
... Pascal and his writings, but from the research I have done and examined, the conclusion that men should be thinking logically, not rationally as rationality is for the mind, not heart, and see the Wager has one good outcome, which is to believe.
b. The argument in the defense of Pascal’s Wager has many flaws
- If Christian God does not exist, what if another God does
1. Logically, it only makes sense to go into the faith that most others have gotten into, with the largest followings and one of the oldest formations.
- What if there is no god and everything was a test of mind vs heart and the rationality of humans
1. Faith is in the heart and as has been said, the heart has reason which reason cannot understand. So if it were a fight over finding rationality, it would not be fully supported because finding the complete and total reason for faith will never be found.
In order to be considered a non-evidentialist, one must believe that actual evidence is not required for all of our beliefs. Pascal believ...
On the other hand, you could choose not to believe in God. If there is no God, then you are fine. You can sin all you like, you can allow yourself transgressions and forbidden acts, and the only punishments you will face will be those of this life. If, however, you lived thusly and there is a God, then you face an eternity of torture and unbearable misery. So, Pascal reasoned, one would do best to believe in God and act accordingly. That way, if you're wrong, the worst thing that could happen is that you were more pious and caring then you may have otherwise been. If you do not believe in God and you turn out to be wrong, the risks become terrifying.
belief is not to produce true belief. Instead theistic belief allows the believer to avoid
The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.
Pascal’s Wager was a major strength of his theory on God and Religion. The argument made in Pascal’s Wager is an example of apologetic philosophy. It was written and published in Pensées by the 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Pascal’s Wager claims that all humans must bet their lives on whether God exists. He argues that rational people should seek to believe in God. If God does not exist the loss is minimal, but if God does exist there is an infinite gain, eternity in Heaven. It was a ground-breaking theory because it utilized probability theory and formal decision theory. Pascal’s Wager is applicable both to atheists and theists. While other philosophies may
The point of view of materialism in the Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence is the seen from inside the mind of child in the story, Paul. “He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to “luck,” Absorbed, taking n...
...nown reason Pascal seemed to think it was not necessary to acknowledge that there are more belief systems then Agnosticism, atheism, and Christianity. It is this lack of reasoning of why we should make a wager on the existence of the Christian god over the gods of Hinduism or the god of Islam that makes Pascal’s argument so weak. The only conclusion I think one could reach from Pascal’s argument is that it is more beneficial for one to believe in at least a higher power than it is to be an agnostic or atheist. Even if one did acknowledge the existence of some sort of higher being or beings it would still not benefit an individual because the chance of selecting the true belief system out of an infinite number of possible belief systems makes it very unlikely for someone to ever make the right choice. In conclusion I feel that Pascal’s Wager is a very weak argument.
Modern debates over religion, more specifically God, focus primarily on whether or not sufficient evidence exists to either prove or disprove the existence of a God. Disbelievers such as biologist Richard Hawkins tend to point to the indisputable facts of evolution and the abundance of scientific evidence which seem to contradict many aspects of religion. Conversely, believers such as Dr. A. E. Wilder-Smith describe the controversial aspects of science, and how the only possible solution to everything is a supreme being. However, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal refused to make either type of argument; he believed that it was impossible to determine God’s existence for certainty through reason. Instead, he suggested that rational individuals should wager as though God does indeed exist, because doing so offers these individuals everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Unfortunately, Pascal’s Wager contains numerous fallacies, and in-depth analysis of each one of his arguments proves that Pascal’s Wager is incorrect.
Religion is “the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship.” (Cambridge Dictionary) Many people believe in something else out of the evidential or scientific view, thinking that good things happen because God says so, or that the universe was not made by the Big Bang. Even though is something that was more present in history years ago, a lot of people still believe and practise a religion. According to Stephen Juan there are about 4,300 religions in the world. About a 75 per cent of the population of the world practises a religion and the two religions most widely spread are the Christianity and the Islam. (2006) They can be divided in believers, adherents or not adherents, agnostics and atheists. People who are believers are the ones who have faith in something great beyond and
...ople to come back to Church and to believe in God but not out of self-interest. In order for the argument to accomplish this it must first be rewritten. It needs to define its terms (i.e. the use of the word God), it should not be based on chance or self-interest but rather to make known to the person that it is quite possible that God exists, and finally, it should include a fifth outcome where a person believes in God out of self-interest and is eternally damned anyway for lack of faith, love and for selfishness. Pascal’s Wager calls to mind a famous quote by Albert Camus: “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.” Until Pascal’s argument is solid and fully developed, one should not adopt the argument as a mean for conversion, evangelization or lifestyle.
When looking at Pascal’s arguments that emerge in Pensees; the history, ideas, and people that influenced Pascal must be examined. Many of Pascal’s arguments involve the unity of both religion and science. This can be very controversial at a time where an absolute monarch challenges and tries to destroy other faith practices. Along with introducing scientific ideas others may misinterpret as trying to disprove God’s existence. Pascal was heavily influenced by the Christian church and was a firm believer in God. In fact, Pascal’s discoveries and experiments only solidify his faith even more. Pensees is Pascal’s thoughts on God and some other subjects that tie philosophy and the nature of man.
In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion to develop, " Never before in the history of the race had conditions been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).
Throughout the course of history, man has looked to religion for answers. Curiosity as to how we got here and why we are have driven people to seek out answers to these somewhat unanswerable questions. Over the past few thousand years, several varying religions have been established, some more prominent than others. Many of them share a similar story of a divine creator who has always been and will always be. In the case of Christianity, whether true or not, it has proven to be beneficial to society as a whole. The Bible set the standard for the moral compass that humans live their lives by to this day. The key fundamental problem with religion, although not the fault of religion, is that man has often used it as a gateway to power and prominence. In the case of the 18th century Gallican church, the French were abusing their religious powers, thus creating vast inequality throughout France, which eventually led to a rebellion against the church, and the eventual destruction of the church within France.
In the question of faith and reason it is ridiculous to claim that God or any matter of the Divine may be proven by reason. And although I agree with the Bernard of Clairvaux on this one matter I agree for a different reason. He leaves the only answer to be faith. I do not think there is any true way to prove religious matters. Though it may be easy at times to disprove them with the use of reason, it becomes difficult to do so with faith. It is impossible to use faith and reason in conjunction with eachother. Faith is a belief in something that does not have reason, so therefore if something can be proved with philosophical reasoning there would be no reason to have faith except for in the case where reason does not answer the question. This reasoning equation, in the end, does not add up.
And if they are wrong, they lose nothing. Conversely, a person who bets that God does not exist, if that person is right they gain nothing, and if they are wrong, they lose everything. Moreover, if a person bets that God did exist and then lived a moral life, whereby they missed out on the temporary enjoyment of worldly pleasure only to find out God does not exist, that person only lost the finite.