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History
Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician,
physicist, and religious philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was
educated by his father. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and
applied sciences where he made important contributions to the
construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and
clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work
of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the
scientific method.
He was a mathematician of the first order. Pascal helped create
two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on
the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen and
corresponded with Pierre de Fermat from 1654 and later on probability
theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and
social science.
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Climax
At the age of 31 he abandoned his scientific
work and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. His two most
famous works date from this period: the Lettres provinciales and the
Pensées. Pascal suffered from ill health throughout his life and died
two months after his 39th birthday.
For 8 years he examined this domain and established a
fundamental process of approaching the decision of the existence of
God.
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The Wager
The Wager posits that it is a better "bet" to
believe that God exists than not to believe, because the expected
value of believing (which Pascal assessed as infinite) is always
greater than the expected value of not believing. In Pascal's
assessment, it is inexcusable not to investigate this issue.
He quotes: "Before entering into the proofs of the Christian
religion, I find it necessary to point out the sinfulness of those men
who live in indifference to the search for truth in a matter which is
so important to them, and which touches them so nearly"
He, like many other thinkers understood that such a matter
should not be taken lightly for due to his timely effort and pondering
his developed intellect led him to understand something of the
magnitude and mystery of "eternal" consequences. This dimension of
thought is rarely attained not because it cannot be but because no one
bothers. The risk of such an aspect existing compared to it not
existing is of such great value that to deny or null its significance
would be deemed, stupid.
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Pascal explains his wager
"If
there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having
neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then
incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is....
...God
is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can
decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A
game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where
heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason,
you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason,
you can defend neither of the propositions."
Do
not, then, reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you
know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this
choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who
chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The
true course is not to wager at all.
Yes;
but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will
you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which
interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the
good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your
knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun,
error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one
rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one
point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss
in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you
gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then,
without hesitation that He is. "That is very fine. Yes, I must wager;
but I may perhaps wager too much." Let us see. 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. But if there were three lives to gain,
you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing),
and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance
your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss
and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And this
being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only
would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two,
and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to
stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity of
chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an
infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an
infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite
number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite."
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Accepting the
"Infinitely incomprehensible"
Pascal
digs into with the premise that the existence or non-existence of God
is not provable by human reason, since the essence of God is
"infinitely incomprehensible". Since reason cannot decide the
question, one must "wager", either by guessing or making a leap of
faith. Agnosticism on this point is not possible, in Pascal's view,
for we are already "embarked", effectively living out our choice.
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God rewards theists |
God rewards atheists |
No God |
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Belief |
Heaven |
Hell |
A
loss of nothing and a gain of genuine happiness and dignified
satisfaction |
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Disbelief |
Hell |
Heaven |
A
gain of nothing and loss of genuine happiness and dignified
satisfaction |
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Pascal's profound question
"Endeavour
then to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by
the abatement of your passions. You would like to attain faith, and do
not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask
the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and
who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way
which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would
be cured…
"Now,
what harm will befall you in taking this side (believing in God)?
You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere
friend, truthful. Certainly you will not have those poisonous
pleasures, glory and luxury; but will you not have others? I will tell
you that you will thereby gain in this life, and that, at each step
you take on this road, you will see so great certainty of gain, so
much nothingness in what you risk, that you will at last recognize
that you have wagered for something certain and infinite, for which
you have given nothing."
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Conclusion
Unbeknownst to Pascal he stated a principle so fully declared in the
Bible by Christ Himself where He declares "Assuredly, I say to you,
there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or
children, for the sake of the kingdom of God (or belief in God) who
shall not receive a hundred fold in this present time (on earth), and
in the age to come, eternal life" Luke 18:29-30. There are no
risks involved for there is only gain (present and future) in the
belief of God and loss of nothing if God did not exist. However, a
huge risk is involved if one chooses not to believe in God and after
this life there is still nothing to be gained.
It's a
win-win situation believing in God and a lose-lose situation to not
believe in Him.
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