Pascal\'s Wager
 

Does anyone have arguments against Pascal's Wager?

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

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Does anyone have arguments against Pascal's Wager?

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Been discussed many times. The basic idea of the wager is an infinite upside against a finite downside - who could not take that bet.

The main refutation is that if there is a god then whichever side of the bet you take, there is an infinite downside (when you pick the wrong god or offend god by picking for bad reasons). Then Pascals wager loses its force and reduces to the usual discussion about whats seems most reasonable.

chez

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

It is possible that there exists an all-powerful being that will punish you if you worship Him.

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

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Does anyone have arguments against Pascal's Wager?

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Believing in God won't get you into heaven.

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

i have been reading the threads on this forum for a couple weeks, have made a few comments. now i know you all must be intelligent and educated, but where did your study of logical analysis go? most of these threads have the same thing in common: none of the posters seem to find it necessary to insist that the terms be defined firstoff. try it on the pascal "argument". w/out first defining the terms, we end up w/ the that old saw 'more heat than light'..........................b

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

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i have been reading the threads on this forum for a couple weeks, have made a few comments. now i know you all must be intelligent and educated, but where did your study of logical analysis go? most of these threads have the same thing in common: none of the posters seem to find it necessary to insist that the terms be defined firstoff. try it on the pascal "argument". w/out first defining the terms, we end up w/ the that old saw 'more heat than light'..........................b

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I'm not sure what you are looking for since his question is very straight forward and has been discussed here multiple times.

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

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It is possible that there exists an all-powerful being that will punish you if you worship Him.

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That's my kind of god! Whoops!

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

you made my point. i am speechless. this is what i mean: before we start 'debating' 1) what do we take pascal to mean by 'god'?. 2) what do we take pascal to mean by 'exist'. 3)what will we accept as an adequate definition of 'wagering'?............you may not think these are necessary questions to ask, but where subjects such as this are discussed by professional academics, and those in training, it can take many hours at the black board working out some agreement on the logics of these various terms................b

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

"It is possible that there exists an all-powerful being that will punish you if you worship Him."

Not at all a ridiculous idea.

Re: Pascal\'s Wager
 

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you made my point. i am speechless. this is what i mean: before we start 'debating' 1) what do we take pascal to mean by 'god'?. 2) what do we take pascal to mean by 'exist'. 3)what will we accept as an adequate definition of 'wagering'?............you may not think these are necessary questions to ask, but where subjects such as this are discussed by professional academics, and those in training, it can take many hours at the black board working out some agreement on the logics of these various terms................b

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And you provide a good example of why many professional academics are not taken seriously.