Pascal says “If there is a God‚ He is infinitely incomprehensible‚ since‚ having neither parts nor limits‚ He has no affinity to us’’ (Pascal‚ 2). Throughout Pascal’s argument he makes the constant notion believing in order to gain finite happiness‚ how is it possible to know if God is willing to provide this infinite gain if he is infinitely incomprehensible? This critical mistake is the very reason Pascal’s argument doesn’t work‚ we just don’t have the knowledge to know about what truly happens
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can never be answered with certainty. These questions make up the study of philosophy‚ and are considered using reason and logic. Two of the main arguments in philosophy discuss its value and the meaning of life. Socrates‚ Bertrand Russell‚ Blaise Pascal and Thomas Nagel attempt in their own way to reason through these questions and form their own unique answers. In Bertrand Russell’s “The Value of Philosophy”‚ he discusses what philosophy is and why it is important. He concludes that the value
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Pascal vs Descartes Paper Pascal’s argument is fallible because he reaches the conclusion that we should “wager” God’s existence‚ rather than coming up with “proof” by using deductive reasoning like Descartes provides in his argument. These early 17th century philosophers both provided writings defending the validity of the Christian religion and of God’s existence. After the Protestant Reformation of 1517‚ the Catholic Church’s sanctity was questioned. Different religions sprouted across Europe
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In Blaise Pascal’s “The Wager”‚ he takes a different approach to explain why we should believe in God. He forms his argument based on that “We cannot have any certainty regarding the existence of God. He exists or does not exist‚ but reason cannot tell us which” Pascal continues explain the wager as having four choices and the consequences that go with them. If someone believes in God and God does exist then they will be granted eternal rewards‚ if they do not believe and God does exist then it is
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Belief in God exists in every culture and has throughout history (www.iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/). If we can conceive one of the greatest possible beings‚ then it must exist. Pragmatic arguments have often been active in the support of theistic belief. Theistic pragmatic arguments are not arguments for the suggestion that God exists; they are arguments that believing God exists is rational. Pragmatic arguments are relevant to belief-formation‚ since teaching a belief is an action. Pragmatic arguments
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The purpose of the paper is to answer several questions arising from an article by H. J. McCloskey entitled “On Being an Atheist”. McCloskey makes the claim that he is reminding fellow atheist why they believe there is no God. He claims that the traditional proofs have no merit. I believe the sheer magnitude and complexity of the world we live in is strong evidence of an intelligent designer and creator. Only an intelligent creator could form a world where the air that we breathe is part of
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This‚ what James quotes in his essay‚ is not Pascal’s reason for believing in God and as James points out it is probably nobody’s real reason for believing in God(William James 131). What Pascal is arguably trying to do here is point out to a non-believer‚ that there is a good reason to look at faith more seriously and consider what it can do. Perhaps‚ if someone reads Pascal’s argument and takes up interest in the church they may well become
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In other words‚ it is a position in which the person argues that since it cannot be “proven” either way‚ the most sensible position is to claim that you neither “believe” or “disbelieve”. In terms of Pascal’s Wager‚ you could say you aren’t going to make “any bets”. How would Pascal Wager classify you? Choose one: believer‚ non-believer‚ no way to classify you. ANS: Non-believer 8. In the history of western philosophy‚ most of the “classical arguments” with respect to the existence of God have tried
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our belief. To illustrate his point‚ James gives an example of Pascal’s wager‚ which conveys that we have a choice to either believe in God or to disbelieve in God. According to Pascal’s wager‚ if we choose to believe in God‚ we will be blessed eternally. In contrast‚ if we choose not to believe in God‚ we will lose. James‚ therefore‚ states that this example is not a living option. In other words‚ the hypothesis that Pascal has offered to us is
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existence of God? Throughout time many philosophers have been searching for an answer to creation and whether it is actually possible to prove (or not prove) if God exists. Some of the philosophers include Thomas Aquinas‚ William Paley and Blaise Pascal they came up with various different theories and arguments to prove the existence of God and why they believed he did exist. Another philosopher Karl Marx thought that his theory could convince people not to believe in God. One philosopher‚ Thomas
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