BLAISE PASCAL 16231662

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BLAISE PASCAL (1623-1662)
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Background on Pascal

• Comparison with Descartes
• Religious influences
• Conversion (913)
• Jansenism

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The Project of the Apology

• State of the text we have
• General sketch of the project
• Reason/heart distinction (110)
• The three stages of the argument for Christianity
• Plausibility
• Hope
• Truth

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The Human Condition

• Wretchedness
• Ignorance (110, 131)
• Incapacity for enjoyment (70, 136, 165, 138)
• Greatness (113, 117, 200)

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Christianity and the Human Condition

• Original sin as explanation of greatness and
  wretchedness (149)
• Doctrines of grace and redemption as basis of
  hope
• Conclusion Christianity deserves a serious
  hearing

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Is Christianity True?

• Miracles
• Prophecies (332, 335)
• Perpetuity (281)

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Pascals Wager (418)

• Pascal and the mathematics of probability
• Belief in Christianity as a bet
• What determines the reasonableness of a bet?
• Likelihood of winning
• Amount of possible loss or gain

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The Wager Argument

• Basic idea
• betting on the truth of Christianity amounts to
  risking a finite loss for the possibility of an
  infinite gain
• Such a bet is always reasonable

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The argument

• 1. It is possible that Christianity is true.
• 2. If Christianity is true and I accept it, my
  gain is infinite (eternal happiness)
• 3. If Christianity is not true and I accept it,
  my loss is at most finite (earthly happiness).
• 4. Therefore, if I accept Christianity, my
  possible gain is infinite and my risk is finite.
• 5. It is always reasonable to risk a finite loss
  for a possibility of an infinite gain.
• 6. Therefore, it is reasonable to accept
  Christianity.

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Some Problems

• Can we decide to believe?
• Premise 3 (plurality of religions)
• Premise 5 (diminishing returns)
• Premise 2 (William James objection)