So,what is "Pascal's Wager"?

Question

I see tons of questions referencing it but no definition. I've never heard of it.

Well,gee,I'm sorry I didn't know there was a wiki entry on it. I do know who Blaise Pascal was; but a point of philosophy is raely entered into an enclopedia by a catch phrase,which it what is sounded like. Kjelstad,thank you for the explanation. Simple question,simple answer. I appreciate it.

Answer 1

You live as though God exists.
If God exists, you go to heaven: your gain is infinite.
If God does not exist, you gain nothing & lose nothing.

You live as though God does not exist.
If God exists, you go to hell: your loss is infinite.
If God does not exist, you gain nothing & lose nothing.

Now all you have to do is pick the right god. good luck.

Answer 2

The essence is whether or not there is a God who gave us instructions on how to live our lives. If there is a God, then the system was set up as to be impossible to prove it one way or the other. If there isn't, there isn't.

Now here's the rub. How should one live their life? Pascal's solution was to live life AS IF there was a God and the Bible is the instruction book. For if there is a God, then one would stand in good stead with that God when judgement day comes. If there is no god, then nothing is lost and a decent life has been lived. On the other hand, if one chooses to live as if there was no god and just did whatever came to mind...and he was wrong, he's lost everything. If not, it doesn't matter anyway.

Therefore, living as if God exists is a win-win proposition whereas the alternative is more than likely a lose-lose outcome.

Answer 3

Look it up in Wikipedia. In a nutshell, it's the assumption that people might as well err on the side of believing in God; because if they're wrong when they die, they've lost nothing, and if they're right, they gain everything. Whereas if you live your life denying God, if you're right you've gained nothing, and if you're wrong, you've lost everything--therefore the argument that it's better to believe in God. There are many arguments against this assumption, however, especially because Pascal himself goes on and on with even weirder stuff than just the basic Wager... as I said, read up about it.

Answer 4

See Kjelstad's answer for a great, concise explanation.

The flaws in logic are obvious. Also it assumes a God who's a bit of a gullible idiot. It's like selling insurance for your eternal soul.

Answer 5

Pascal's wager is a very, very scary gambling game. It basically says that you have to believe in a certain god, even if you fake it, just to be sure to avoid a certain hell.

With 10,000 gods around, that's a huge gamble! And gambling is forbidden in certain holy books, so it will lead you to hell anyway.

The wager was invented by Blaise Pascal, who is now sitting at a bar in hell, whining to barkeep Satan "wrong god, dammit, wrong god".

It's a sad image, really.

Answer 6

Blaise Pascal, noted mathematician for whom Pascal's Triangle is named, proposed: it is better to believe in god, no matter how unlikely, and be assured of paradise, than not to believe, and possibly suffer damnation. The argument is easily refuted.

Answer 7

It is a brilliant introduction to game theory using a very poor example.

Answer 8

He bet on a horse named "Blaise's Gambit." He lost... and he still owes me ten bucks over it.

Answer 9

In short. It's best to believe in a God, just in case. That way you can't go wrong.

Except for the fact that there is no God, of course.

Answer 10

Try using Google.

Drink