Wednesday, February 13, 2002
The mathematician Blaise Pascal was brought to my attention by a couple of fellows I went to school with and how he thought of god logically. It's known as the argument of the wager or sometimes Pascal's Pensees although I think the later refers to many other works of Pascals as well. It goes as follows:
If I wager for and God is -- infinite gain;
If I wager for and God is not -- no loss.
If I wager against and God is -- infinite loss;
If I wager against and God is not -- neither loss nor gain.
Pascal's argument is you might as well believe since that leads to infinite gain and all other path's lead to no loss or gain or worse, infinite loss. It has obvious appeal as it presents the argument in a logical sequence and then the results, there need be no other thinking involved, or is there? Upon close examination the question then becomes, is there any harm (or loss) if you wager for god and god is not. Pascal says there's no loss and I've struggled with the truth of that statement. I've stated here that religion can and does present a positive influence on some people's lives. I haven't really gotten into the untold death and destruction it's caused thru out history however. I like to look at it using an analogy these same school friends of mine used to talk about in University, would you rather be ignorant and happy or know and be somewhat saddened by the truth? I don't know if there's a right answer for that one and alot would depend on the circumstances too. For example, would you rather live your life happy with your spouse or actually be party to the truth that your spouse was unfaithful if this was the case? I don't think you neccessarily have be saddened by the truth either though and that's what I don't understand about some Christians. They assume that atheists are somehow sad in their non-belief and there's a hint of pity. Me, I'm pretty damn thrilled to be alive.
As an aside on ole Blaise Pascal there ... at one point in his life he became increasingly isolated from the world. He claimed to have some sort of vision and renounced learning to devout his life to god. When he had the slightest thought of vanity he wore a girdle of nails driving them into his flesh to be more like Jesus crucified. Sounds like he was pretty sane eh?
If I wager for and God is -- infinite gain;
If I wager for and God is not -- no loss.
If I wager against and God is -- infinite loss;
If I wager against and God is not -- neither loss nor gain.
Pascal's argument is you might as well believe since that leads to infinite gain and all other path's lead to no loss or gain or worse, infinite loss. It has obvious appeal as it presents the argument in a logical sequence and then the results, there need be no other thinking involved, or is there? Upon close examination the question then becomes, is there any harm (or loss) if you wager for god and god is not. Pascal says there's no loss and I've struggled with the truth of that statement. I've stated here that religion can and does present a positive influence on some people's lives. I haven't really gotten into the untold death and destruction it's caused thru out history however. I like to look at it using an analogy these same school friends of mine used to talk about in University, would you rather be ignorant and happy or know and be somewhat saddened by the truth? I don't know if there's a right answer for that one and alot would depend on the circumstances too. For example, would you rather live your life happy with your spouse or actually be party to the truth that your spouse was unfaithful if this was the case? I don't think you neccessarily have be saddened by the truth either though and that's what I don't understand about some Christians. They assume that atheists are somehow sad in their non-belief and there's a hint of pity. Me, I'm pretty damn thrilled to be alive.
As an aside on ole Blaise Pascal there ... at one point in his life he became increasingly isolated from the world. He claimed to have some sort of vision and renounced learning to devout his life to god. When he had the slightest thought of vanity he wore a girdle of nails driving them into his flesh to be more like Jesus crucified. Sounds like he was pretty sane eh?
