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PASCAL’S WAGER

                               By Sri T K Jayaraman (Rtd) IRS

 

Pascal’s Wager

 

In your high school science, you would have learnt Pascal’s law of flotation. Blaise Pascal (1623-62) was a French mathematician, physicist, religious thinker and philosopher. In this post, I like to write on his famous argument known as Pascal’s Wager. What is it?

If God exists, it is quite difficult to comprehend him. Human reason can determine neither his existence nor non existence. Our reasoning fails us. In any case, we are bound to make up our mind and live accordingly. Either we believe in God or do not believe. Pascal suggests that adopting belief in God and leading a religious life is the soundest bet. If one wins the bet, an eternity of bliss is gained. In the event of losing the bet, the loss incurred is utterly insignificant. The alternative of unbelief at best can give an insignificant gain and at worst an immense loss. So it is better to believe in God.

 

Comments

  1. P C K PREMJuly 27, 2021 at 6:19 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. P C K PREMJuly 27, 2021 at 6:23 AM

    Enjoyed. It is enriching and thoughtful with a rationale behind and that makes it so good. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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