Really, any moron could have thought of that. When I was little, I thought of that all the time.
2007-12-23 18:57:02 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Anybody who thinks Pascal's wager is an argument about God's existence missed the whole point of it. Pascal explained very clearly that he chose the God question because it was unprovable.
The wager using God only would be valid for an agnostic. The wager is about how you act when you can not decide the truth of a proposition.
It uses a payoff table to decide on which bet you should make when unsure of the outcome.
It is the first to clearly express the betting nature of most business decisions. It demonstrates the basis of modern decision theory.
It was a brilliant piece of work.
But it was never intended as a proof of God and only a fool would think it was.
Merry Christmas.
2007-12-23 19:19:12 · answer #1 · answered by Buke 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The difference is between you and Blaise Pascal is that he was a famous French mathematicien and Philosopher. If I am not mistaken, I believe he was a Jancinist which was a popular movement in France back about 300 or 400 years ago.
Also, like any great idea, he was the one to write it down first and have it published. Thus, giving him credit with the phrase "Pascal's Wager."
Also Pascal made a great contribution to Mathematics with his Pascal's Triangle.
Let me recommend that you do not insult Famous French Philosophers and instead read their works.
After all, most of the ideas of the US Constitution is based off De L'espirit Des Lois by Montesquieu.
2007-12-23 19:13:39 · answer #2 · answered by Indy Indy Indy!!!! 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Nothing, really.
People love to use it to automatically say that they're right, but there are so many flaws in the logic I'm surprised Pascal got recognized for any sort of accomplishment in the first place.
2007-12-23 19:01:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing really anymore. But Pascal was the first one to propose it as a major theory.
2007-12-23 19:06:33 · answer #4 · answered by skame 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only thing that is special about it is that it is a popular excuse for proposing a belief in god. People frequently re-invent it, not realizing that it was shown to be an invalid argument centuries ago. It is discussed at some length in:
2007-12-23 19:09:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Theres nothing special about it, he basically says that we cannot know about the existence of God for sure, therefore we are better off 'believing' in order to avoid the consequences in any type of after life.
He didn't solve anything, he simply avoided the whole issue, and decided to play it safe.
2007-12-23 19:02:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
The charm of it, to me, is that every single person arrogantly announces it as tho they are the first person in the grand chain of human history to have thought of such a stunning gambit.
Nevermind that their god would just be rewarding people who know how to hedge bets. ("Jesus Loves Those With a Vegas Heart" - might look good on a tshirt...)
2007-12-23 19:02:12 · answer #7 · answered by Laptop Jesus 3.9 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Pascal was brave enough to write it down.
2007-12-23 19:00:19 · answer #8 · answered by queen of snarky-yack again 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It sounds great until you realize its completely invalid. It easily persuades simple minds.
Oh yeah, Drink!
2007-12-23 19:04:57 · answer #9 · answered by Skippy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's an argument made by "special" people...short-bus special...
2007-12-23 19:07:45 · answer #10 · answered by Dashes 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋