Pascal’s Wager
by Rudolph Lohse
Blaise Pascal, a prominent
French philosopher living in the skeptical age of the 17th century,
was the author of the Pensees in which he argued that reason alone could
never answer the question of whether God exists or not. Therefore he developed
his famous wager concerning the manner in which a person should best conduct
his life on earth in order to gain maximum happiness. At the far end of life,
Pascal said that a coin is being tossed that will come down heads (God) or
tails (no God). So how will you wager, i.e. how will you live your life in view
of the uncertainty of that final truth?
Pascal’s Wager answered that
central question by essentially claiming that:“It makes more
sense to believe in God than not to believe. If you believe, and God exists,
you will be rewarded in the afterlife. If you do not believe and He exists, you
will be punished for your disbelief. If He does not exist, you have lost
nothing either way.”
