The rejection of pascals wager brief refutation of pascal by paul tobin. The implications of blaise pascals wager and his relevance for todays faith introduction on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the second ecumenical vatican council, the holy father emeritus, benedict xvi, proclaimed for the whole catholic church the year. The following is a creative reformulation of the argument designed to avoid some of the objections which have been or might be raised against the original. In his pensees 165758, pascal posed the following argument to show that belief in the christian religion is rational. The project gutenberg ebook of pascals pensees, by blaise. Pascals statement of his wager argument is couched in terms of the theory of probability and the theory of games, and the exposition is unclear and unnecessarily complicated. Pascals wager blaise pascal image from laphams quarterly the point of the book seems to be to describe life in the 17th century in western europe. If the christian god does exist, the agnostic gains. Two versions of pascals wager will be earmarked for close examination. While many philosophers argue against the existence of god, some hold on to the view that god does indeed exist and gives people all the reasons to. Mar 23, 2018 but, the wager only works in the way pascal wants it to, if the chances of gods existence is an even split.
According to pascal, how much can be known about god. Blaise pascal the wager about gods existence pensees. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. Blaise pascals famous wager was that even if the existence of god cannot be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though god exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy pascals wager first published sat may 2, 1998. Blaise pascal was born on june 19th 1623 in clermont in the auvergne in central france. Pensees by blaise pascal, free pdf, ebook global grey. Pascals wager is an argument in philosophy presented by the seventeenthcentury french philosopher, mathematician and physicist, blaise pascal 16231662.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, etienne pascal, a tax collector, from rouen. Blaise pascal 16231662 was a french mathemati cian and philosopher. What logical flaws andor fallacies if any are committed in making this argument. One night in january 1646, blaise pascals father, etienne, was on his way to stop a.
Pascals wager is an argument for the existence of god developed by 17th century mathematician and philosopher blaise pascal. The wager by blaise pascal blaise pascal, thoemmes about the author early in life blaise pascal 16231662 pursued interests in physics and mathematics. But, the wager only works in the way pascal wants it to, if the chances of gods existence is an even split. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play since you. Suppose someone you loved lay dying, and the doctor offered to try a new miracle drug that he could not guarantee but that would have a 5050 chance of saving your beloveds life. Full text of pascal s wager see other formats stop early journal content on jstor, free to anyone in the world this article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in the world by jstor. With probability 1, the coin will land heads eventually, and from that point on you will wager for god. This argument, one of the most famous from pascals thoughts, hides a real. Goldmann, the famous exegesis of the thought of blaise pascals wager said it is the center of gravity of his philosophy, and acknowledges that the famous argument should be of interest to the libertines. One version is a favorite of philosophers, and so it might be called the canonical version of pascals wager. At the time pascals father focused the childrens education on literature, philosophy. This document has been generated from xsl extensible stylesheet language source with renderx xep formatter, version 3. The family had always been devout, and the younger pascal, though absorbed in his scientific work, never seems to have been afflicted with infidelity. Aug 08, 2018 this core concept video focuses on blaise pascals unfinished work, the pensees, specifically on his famous wager about the existence of god.
And then to make people seek him among the philosophers, sceptics, and dogmatists, who disquiet him who inquires of them. May 06, 2012 it is pascals wager that is being discussed here and since blaise pascal was a 17th century philosopher and catholic theologian, a reference to the bible is quite pertinent and hence your misconception of it being meaningless is faux. His theory of conic sections and prob ability theory are well known. This argument, one of the most famous from pascals thoughts, hides a real complexity and deserves an explanation. Pascals wager is an argument posed by the mathematician and physicist blaise pascal to deal with gods existence to help explain here is an illustration. Pascals wager superb analysis of the argument by alan hajek. With the wager, pascal attempted to provide a compelling reason to believe in god based upon happiness and possible outcomes. Blaise pascal, thoemmes about the author early in life blaise pascal 16231662 pursued in terests in physics and mathematics. This is a plausible principle, and one which is employed in some versions of pascals wager. The pensees literally thoughts is a collection of fragments on theology and philosophy written by 17thcentury philosopher and mathematician blaise pascal.
The wager by blaise pascal certainly true of every finite number. Pascals religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism and this was in many ways his lifes work. After his mother died, pascals father, also a respected mathematician, was left to raise blaise and his two sisters. The implications of blaise pascals wager and his relevance for todays faith introduction on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the second ecumenical vatican council, the holy father emeritus, benedict xvi, proclaimed for the whole catholic church the year of faith that started on october 11, 2012 and will conclude on november 24, 20. Connor does a fine job of explaining his work on probability, his. Pascal, blaise internet encyclopedia of philosophy. If the greatest philosopher in the world find himself upon a plank wider than actually necessary, but hanging over a precipice. One of pascals most famous works was the pensees thoughts, which was published posthumously in 1670. Blaise pascal brief biography blaise pascal outline of pascal as a mathematician. The wager blaise pascal blaise pascal 16231662 was a french scientist and mathematician who experienced a religious conversion during the night of november 23rd, 1654 at the age of 31. Pdf on jan 12, 1991, graham oppy and others published on rescher on pascals wager find, read and cite all the research you need on. Blaise pascal was a french thinker, inventor, physicist, mathematician and philosopher.
His theory of conic sections and probability theory are well known. Blaise pascal was a deeply conflicted man who seemed almost constantly to be at war with himself. The name is somewhat misleading, for in a single section of his pensees, pascal apparently presents at least three such arguments, each of which might be called a wagerit is only the final of. The project gutenberg ebook of pascals pensees, by blaise pascal. Let us weigh the gain and the loss involved in wagering that god exists. Blaise pascal was born on june 19, 1623, in clermont now clermontferrand in the auvergne region of central france. And men of intuition who are only intuitive cannot have the patience to reach to first principles of things speculative and conceptual, which they have never seen in the world and which are altogether out of the common. Particularly of interest to pascal was a work of desargues on conic sections. In this wireless philosophy video, susanna rinard harvard university explains pascals wager, blaise pascals famous argument for belief in god. He was born in clermontferrand, in france, on june 19, 1623. Course notes blaise pascal, the wager the electric agora.
It is pascals wager that is being discussed here and since blaise pascal was a 17th century philosopher and catholic theologian, a reference to the bible is quite pertinent and hence your misconception of it being meaningless is faux. It reasons thereupon,and calls it nature, necessity, and can believe nothing else. He discusses with great wonder and beauty the human condition, the incarnation, god, the meaning of life, revelation, and the paradoxes of christianity. Blaise pascal painting of blaise pascal made by francois ii quesnel for gerard edelinck in 1691 born 16230619 19 june 1623 clermontferrand, auvergne, france died 19 august 1662 16620819 aged 39 paris, france nationality french era 17thcentury philosophy region western philosophy school jansenism main interests theology mathematics philosophy physics notable ideas pascal s wager. If the christian god does not exist, the agnostic loses little by believing in him and gains correspondingly little by not believing. If the chances of god existing are one in ten million, then the idea that it is reasonable to give up so many of lifes greatest joys on such a slim likelihood is hard to sustain. The wager the question of whether or not god exists has over the years elicited a heated debate among different philosophers with each one of them giving their views of the subject. Pascals wager about god internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Mar 24, 2017 in this wireless philosophy video, susanna rinard harvard university explains pascal s wager, blaise pascal s famous argument for belief in god. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager.
Jansenists antiscience, thomism from thomas aquinas, seeing god in all things, augustinians who think people are basically corrupt. Saintebeuves great work on port royal, especially the second and third volumes, and port royal, by charles beard, b. Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though god exists and seek to believe in god. Pascals wager a good summary of the argument by paul saka. Reconstruct pascals wager as carefully as possible. On the one hand, pascal was a mathematical prodigy with a brilliant and curious mind about the world. Pascals wager is usually treated out of context, in a way that distorts the argument and the way that it functions in the larger context of the pensees. Blaise pascal s famous wager was that even if the existence of god cannot be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though god exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Yearning for knowledge of absolutes and the experience of infinity, pascal understood that human beings are condemned, like tantalus, to never acquire that which they desire.
The thoughts of blaise pascal online library of liberty. So far we have discussed a number of arguments for or against the. Originally intending to publish a book defending christianity, pascal died before he could complete it. It posits that humans bet with their lives that god either exists or does not. James connor does a good job of giving the reader both sides of this conflict. Following desargues thinking, the 16yearold pascal produced, as a means of proof, a short treatise on what was called the mystic hexagram, essai pour les coniques essay on conics and sent ithis first serious work of mathematicsto pere mersenne in paris. Those to whom the life of pascal and the story of port royal are unknown, must be referred to works treating fully of the subject, since it were impossible to deal with them adequately within the limits of a preface. He laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as pascals principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that. Blaise pascal, born june 19, 1623, clermontferrand, francedied august 19, 1662, paris, french mathematician, physicist, religious philosopher, and master of prose.
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. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false. Pascal s thoughts are as powerful as they are comprehensive. He passionately argues for the christian faith, using both argumentation and his famous wager. Blaise pascal, a 17th century philosopher, felt this modern malaise of being a stranger in the universe in an extremely prescient manner. Pascals wager, practical argument for belief in god formulated by blaise pascal. The word conversion, however, is too forcible to be applied at this point to blaise pascal himself. Mathematician, inventor, philosopher background blaise pascal was born june 19, 1623 into a cultured family in france. Known as the early journal content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other. Rather, blaise pascal intended for it to be understood within a certain context, and for this reason the wager should be examined relative to its contextual bearings.
Pascal is perhaps most famous for his wager pascal s wager which is not as clear in his language as in this summary. His mother died the following year, and when he was eight the family moved to paris. Before actually reading pensees, i knew blaise pascal and his pensees only from snippets of quotes such as, the heart has its reason of which reason knows nothing and from pascals wager. Before actually reading pensees, i knew blaise pascal and his pensees only from snippets of quotes such as, the heart has its reason of which reason knows nothing and from pascal s wager. In this outline i try to provide students with the necessary background to make sense of the. Since pascal does not think a sound argument can be given for gods existence, he proposes a persuasive consideration. Blaise pascal was a 17th century french philosopher, theologian, and mathematician. Blaise pascal 16231662 offers a pragmatic reason for believing in god. Explain whether you consider pascals wager a proof of gods existence or.
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