Pascal's Wager
Is Belief in God the Wisest Bet One Could Ever Make?
Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623-August 19, 1662) was the greatest mathematician of his age, a child prodigy in the sciences and, later in life, a significant religious philosopher.
Pascal was always sickly and, after many years of suffering and then a brush with death, experienced a religious vision which converted him to Christianity. It was the miracle cure of his ten-year old niece, Marguerite, however, which solidified his belief in the God of Christianity and lead to the writing of his famous Pensees ("thoughts" in French) in which one finds his equally famous Wager (Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager reads, in part, "Who then will blame Christians for inability to give a reason for their belief, professing as they do a religion for which they can give no good reason? Let us examine this point and say 'God is or is not.' But which way shall we lean? Reason can settle nothing here; there is an infinite gulf [between Christians and atheists]. A game is on, at the other end of this infinite distance, and heads or tails will turn up." (Pensees, no. 223)
Pascal is saying that either God does or does not exist, and that there is no amount of reasoned dialogue which will "prove" the case one way or the other. When one dies, however, one will discover whether God is a reality or a myth. He goes on to say that one must choose and, yet, how is one to choose?
The Choice to Believe in God
"Since you must choose, let us see what concerns you least. You have two things to lose: truth and good, and two things to stake: your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness...Your reason does not suffer by your choosing one more than the other, for you must choose...But your happiness? Let us weigh gain and loss in calling heads that God is. Reckon these two chances: if you win, you win all; if you lose, you lose naught." (Pensees, no. 223)
As it is incumbent upon one to make a choice whether there is or is not a God, Pascal argues that the wisest choice is to bet that God does exist for, in this life (by a Christian reasoning) one will experience meaning and the knowledge that the Creator of the Universe has a special interest in one and, when one dies, there is the promise of eternal life.
If one wagers that there is no God, however, one suffers a meaningless and dour existence (again, from a Christian point of view) and faces the prospect of an eternity in hell upon death.
With these being the two options open to a human being, Pascal states, why not wager on the one which would bring the most good, the greatest happiness?
Sources:
- Pensees - Blaise Pascal, 1670, translated by H.F. Stewart (1965) Pantheon Books.
- Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967, "Blaise Pascal."
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