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| Introduction to Philosophy | Notes | This is not a substitute for coming to class - or for reading the material. | Richard Lee |
| Philosophy 2003 | Copyright © 2006, Richard Lee | Autumn 2006 | |
Pascal presumes (for this argument) that reason cannot determine whether God exists, so reason alone cannot determine whether to believe in God.
Payoff Matrix:
| God exists | God doesn’t exist | |
| Believe in God | Infinite payoff (heaven) | finite
loss at most (Pascal: finite gain) |
| Don’t believe | Negative infinite? | finite gain at most |
So, it is smart to bet that God exists.
This doesn’t prove that God exists. But it does (if sound) prove that it is a good idea to believe that God exists.
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