A pragmatic, decision-theoretic argument for believing in God, set out by Blaise Pascal in the Pensees, published posthumously in 1670. Pascal argues that since the stakes of wagering on God's existence are infinite (eternal salvation) against a finite cost (a life of religious practice), practical rationality favours believing, or acting so as to come to believe, regardless of the evidence for God's existence. The many-gods objection, that the same reasoning would favour wagering on any of many mutually exclusive deities, and objections that belief cannot simply be willed for pragmatic reasons, are the standard replies.
Facts
Origin YearPublished posthumously in the Pensees; written in the years before Pascal's death in 1662. Classification
Position Kind Connections
Associated With
Source Pascal's Wager (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In Branch
Sources
1. Pascal's Wager (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Pascal's Wager
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.
- Associated With: Blaise Pascal
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.