ipl-logo

Analysis Of Pascal's Argument For Belief In God

639 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Criticism for pascals wager

Pascal makes the argument for the belief in God through the use of Decision Theory. He states that there are two options of belief and two possible realities, creating the four combinations: you believe in God and God exists, you believe in God and God doesn’t exist, you don’t believe in God and God exists, and you don’t believe in God and God doesn’t exist. Next Pascal assigns predicted measures of gain or lose for each combination, as if it is proven true. Here he reasons that If a person truly believed in God and God does exist, they will be rewarded infinitely, furthermore he says that if they believe and God doesn’t exist they lose nothing On the Other hand he says that a person doesn 't believe in God and God exists they stand to lose, and if they don’t believe and God doesn’t exist they neither lose nor gain. Through these predicted measures of gain and lose Pascal proves that choosing to believe is not only the most appealing option but the only rational choice.

If you grant this argument as valid, and are consequentially moved to choose to believe in God through reason, you are now meet with the obstacle of convincing yourself to believe. Pascal says that in this case you should not try to convince yourself by trying to further prove God’s existence, but instead you should observe those who have …show more content…

Similarly, it would also be absurd to say that pretending to believe would cause someone, who previously could not convince themselves to believe, to believe. Therefore, simply choosing to believe in God could not possible lead one to truly believe in God. So, an individual who cites Pascal’s Wager to justify a belief in God does not truly believe in God, and if they do not truly believe in God, they will not stand to gain infinitely if God does exist. This completely removes the only reasonable option from Pascal’s

Show More
Related

Summary Of Not In Kansas Anymore By Jeff Jordan

941 Words | 4 Pages

His arguments includes religious experiences, existential / affective reasons, and Pascal's wager argument. Jordan shuts down the arguments given by others, and gives his own arguments to prove why faith and reason are in fact compatible.

Read More

Lara Buchak's Can It Be Rational To Have Faith

1347 Words | 6 Pages

In Lara Buchak’s essay, Can It Be Rational to Have Faith? , she asserts that everyday faith statements and religious faith statements share the same attributes. She later states that in order to truly have faith, a person ceases to search for more evidence for their claim, and that having faith can be rational. Although she makes compelling arguments in favor of faith in God, this essay is more hearsay and assumption than actual fact. In this paper, you will see that looking for further evidence would constitute not having faith, but that having faith, at least in the religious sense, is irrational.

Read More

The Wager Rhetorical Analysis

739 Words | 3 Pages

He introduces the idea with a game, a simple wager of " heads or tails". However, in his game, one side of the coin represents the belief that God exist, while the other means that God does not exist. What we bet on in Pascal's Wager is also more than your ordinary school yard gamble with higher stake. In this wager, betting our entire lives, as well as the infinite beyond which we live on this

Read More

Pascal's Waager Rhetorical Analysis

619 Words | 3 Pages

Argument Against the Argument of Pascal’s Wager In Pascal’s Wager, Pascal pioneered new thoughts and opinions amongst his peers in probability theories by attempting to justify that believing in God is advantageous to one’s personal interest. In this paper, I will argue that Pascal’s argument rationalizing why one should believe in God fails and I will suggest that even if one was to accept Pascal’s wager theory, this will not be a suffice resolution to reap the rewards that God has promised to Christian believers like myself who has chosen to believe in God due to my early childhood teachings, familial and inherited beliefs. Pascal offers a logical reason for believing in God: just as the hypothesis that God's existence is improbable, the

Read More

Mackie's Evil And Omnipotence

933 Words | 4 Pages

The question that is asked time and time again is whether or not god exists. It is evident that people hold different beliefs. It is evident that through some of the beliefs of J.L. Mackie that it could be argued that God does not actually exist. I find this argument to be more agreeable. In Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence, he argues many points to support why it should be believed that god does not exist.

Read More

The Explanation Of God And Pensees: Pascal's Wager

786 Words | 4 Pages

If someone believed that God does exist they would obtain Heaven, but if they believed God exists but God doesn’t then they lose nothing. If a person did not believe in God and God does exists then they would obtain Hell and severe misery. If a person did not believe God exists and God does not exist, they would lose nothing. Pascal’s wager states that a person cannot come to know God by reason alone so it is best that a person lives as if God does exist, because a person would not lose anything if God did not exist. Pascal’s wager says it is safer to bet that God does exist and to live a life like God does exist.

Read More

Blaise Pascal's Argument For The Existence Of God?

609 Words | 3 Pages

As stated by Blaise Pascal in the argument of Pascal’s Wager, Pascal claims that most people bet on their lives that God either does or does not exist. In providing his reasoning, the probability of the various outcomes pertaining to finite and infinite gains as well as losses is shown, coming to the conclusion that logically one should believe in God. Although some people believe in God and an afterlife of paradise, we cannot truly grasp the extent of God’s existence. Through assessing Pascal’s argument, it is essential to keep in mind that logically, through the use of probability that one should believe in the existence of God. Pascal argues that a rational individual should live as though God does exist and seek a righteous life that pertains to living up to God’s will.

Read More

Pascal's Wager Has More Benefit Than Believing In God

641 Words | 3 Pages

Pascal’s wager states that believing in God will either lead to infinite gain or finite loss while disbelief leads to infinite loss and finite gain depending on where God exists or not. It is not a way of proving if God exists but to say that believing in God has more benefits than disbelief in God. I don’t believe that the it is that simple with many different factors affecting the gain and loss. The wager itself is made with the idea of the christian God but there are so many religions out there with different beliefs and even different amounts of gods.

Read More

JL Mackie's Argument For The Existence Of God?

295 Words | 2 Pages

Under these options, one is free to follow his/her passionate nature and believe whatever one would like to believe. Concerning the existence of God, James thinks that belief in God’s existence is a valuable sort of

Read More

Argument On 'Pensées' By Blaise Pascal

534 Words | 3 Pages

Firstly, Blaise Pascal’s writing, Pensées, is a collection of fragments used to argue his thoughts on the existence of God. A large sum of evidence is taken from his argument about the importance of faith and reason. Pascal’s wager argues that if a person believes in God and He does not exist, then they have lost nothing; but if He does exist they will live eternally. If a person does not believe in God and He does not exist, then they gain nothing, but if He does exist they will live eternally in hell. This statement in Pascal’s words says, “Order.

Read More

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's Argument Analysis

2349 Words | 10 Pages

124). His other point is that God having a sufficient reason for permitting evil is not the same as having a hallucination. He states that having good reason for the existence of God increases the possibility that He has a reason for permitting gratuitous suffering (p. 124). He also counters the claim that there is no evidence to suggest that God is all-good and all-powerful. He refers to his moral argument—wherein without the existence of God, objective moral values would also cease to exist, but objective moral values do exist and thus God also must exist—to make the claim that God is all-good (p. 125).

Read More

Thomas Aquinas First Cause Argument Analysis

1797 Words | 8 Pages

In this essay, I will set out to prove that Thomas Aquinas’ First Cause Argument does not show that God exists and the conclusion that God exists does not follow from the premises of the first cause argument. I do think that the conclusion is valid and could be sound/or has the potential to be, but the premises fail to provide the basis upon which to reach such a conclusion. Hence, I will be raising some objections to the premises and will try to disprove any counter-arguments that could be raised in its defense. This would be done by examining Aquinas’ First Cause Argument and trying to disprove it whilst countering arguments in its defense.

Read More

The Problems With Believing At Will Summary

915 Words | 4 Pages

It is impossible to choose what we believe in solely based on our will. Because of that, Pascal’s argument for the benefits of believing in God does not help whether or not we are able to believe in God. Pascal’s wager, in summary, explains that it is better to believe in God and lose nothing if God did not exist, then to not believe in God and suffer for an eternity if God did exist. Let’s say that there was a man that did not believe in God. After reading about Pascal’s arguments, he agreed that it would be less risky to believe in the existence of God rather than not.

Read More

Anselm Vs Descartes Ontological Argument

945 Words | 4 Pages

St. Anselm and Descartes are known for presenting the first ontological arguments on the existence of God. The word ontological is a compound word derived from ‘ont’ which means exists or being and ‘–ology’ which means the study of. Even though Anselm and Descartes’ arguments differ slightly, they both stem from the same reasoning. Unlike the other two arguments on God’s existence (teleological and cosmological), the ontological argument does not seek to use any empirical evidence but rather concentrates on pure reason. The rationale behind this school of thought

Read More

Argument For Life Of Pi

729 Words | 3 Pages

In the movie, Life of Pi, the main character Pi Patel makes convincing arguments for the existence of God through both natural religion and revealed religion. His argument is that God exists because that is the better story. The plot of the movie is Pi telling an author his life story, including his religious experiences before, and after the shipwreck. In this essay, I will argue that Pi makes a stronger argument for the existence of God through natural religion.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Pascal's Argument For Belief In God

Related Topics

Open Document