A Critical Survey of Pascal’s Wager for the Existence of God

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Pascal’s Wager is one of the most important and challenging arguments for the existence of God and the rationality of religious believes. According to this argument, where the rational and theoretical arguments for the existence of God are not satisfying, still in practice and decision-making, living on the basis of belief in God and other religious doctrines like life after death, is the most prudential and rational option and the best bet; although these believes are not rationally and certainly provable; Avoiding the probable loss of atheism, namely eternal and infinite damnation in afterlife – that is more important than certain utility and restricted and finite pleasure of life in this world, is the ground of rationality of this decision-making. The psychological use of this argument is very effective, but the justificatory use of it have many difficulties; This article is concerned with the most important criticisms of this argument in terms of plurality of religions, rationalism, evidentialism, ethics of belief, voluntarism and probabilities calculus.

Keywords


  1. ابن‌سینا، حسین‌بن‌عبدالله، 1375، الإشارات و التنبیهات، شرح نصیرالدّین الطوسی و قطب‌الدّین الرازی، قم، نشرالبلاغة.
  2. اکبری، رضا و خسروی فارسانی، عباس، 1389، «بررسی انتقادی تقریر ویلیام جیمز از شرطیۀ پاسکال»، در:  قبسات، س15 ، ش55، ص95ـ120.
  3. اکبری، رضا، 1383، «مبانی معرفت‌شناختی نظریۀ کثرت‌گروی جان هیک»، در: نامۀ حکمت، ش4، ص35ـ54.
  4. اکبری، رضا، 1384، «نظریه کثرت گرایانه جان هیک در بوته نقد، در:  قبسات، ش37، ص77-92.
  5. السبزواری، حاج ملاهادی، 1413، شرح المنظومة، تصحیح حسن حسن‌زاده آملی، تهران، نشر ناب.
  6. ملاصدرا، 1368‌، الحکمة‌ المتعالیة‌ فی‌ الأسفار العقلیۀ الاربعة [أسفار]‌، قم، مکتبۀ المصطفوی.
  7. بدوی، عبدالرحمن، 1979، دورالعرب فی تکوین الفکر الأروبی، بیروت، دارالقلم.
  8. بدوی، عبدالرحمن، 1993، موسوعۀ المستشرقین، بیروت، دارالعلم.
  9. خسروی فارسانی، عباس و اکبری، رضا، 1384، «تحلیل و نقد شرطیۀ پاسکال با توجه به نظریۀ تصمیم‌سازی»، در:  نامۀ حکمت، ش6، ص129ـ163.
  10. کانت، ایمانوئل، 1369، بنیاد مابعدالطبیعۀ اخلاق: گفتاری در حکمت کردار، حمید عنایت و علی قیصری، تهران، خوارزمی.
  11. کشفی، عبد‌الرسول و اسدی، سیاوش، 1389، «جایگاه دل در معرفت‌شناسی پاسکال»، در: نامه حکمت، ش15، ص151-170.
  12. ملکیان، مصطفی، 1381، «تقریر حقیقت و تقلیل مرارت: وجه اخلاقی و تراژیک زندگی روشنفکری» در:  راهی به رهایی: جستارهایی در عقلانیت و معنویت، تهران، نشر نگاه معاصر، ص 9ـ33.
    1. Bicchieri, Cristina, 1998, “Decision and Game Theory”, in: Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Vol. 2, London and New York; Routledge, pp. 823-835.
    2. Blackburn, Simon, 1996, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
    3. Blanshard, Brand, 1974, Reason and Belief, London, Allen & Unwin.
    4. Brown, Stuart, 2001, Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction with Readings, Routledge, Routledge and Francis Group.
    5. Clifford, W. K., 1879, Lectures and essays, Vol. 2, London, Macmilliam.
    6. __________ , 1987a, “The Ethics of Belief”, in: Pojman, Louis P. (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, Blemont, California, Wadsworth, pp. 383-387.
    7. __________ , 1987b, “The Will to believe”, in: Pojman, Louis P. (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, Blemont, California, Wadsworth, pp. 388-396.
    8. Craig, William Lane, et al. (eds.), 2003, Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide, Rutgers University Press.
    9. Davis, Stephan T., 1991, “Pascal on Self-caused Belief”, in:  Religious Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.  27-37.
    10. __________ , 1997, God, Reason & Theistic Proofs, Michigan, Eermans Publishing Co.
    11. Elster, Jon, 2003, “Pascal and Decision Theory”, in: Hammond, Nicholas (ed.), 2003, The Cambridge Companion to Pascal, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 53-74.
    12. Encyclopedia Judaica, 1996, Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House.
    13. Feinberg, Joel & Shafer-Landau, Russ (eds.), 1999, Reason and Responsibility, 10th ed. , Belmont, Wadsworth.
    14. Flew, Antony, 1960, “Is Pascal's Wager the Only Safe Bet?”, Rationalist Annual, No. 76, pp. 21-25.
    15. __________ , 1976, The Presumption of Atheism, London,,Pemberton.
    16. __________ , (ed.), 1979, “Pascal's Wager”, in: A Dictionary of Philosophy, London, Pan Books.
    17. __________ , (ed.), 2006, “Agnosticism”, in: Encyclopedia Britannica, from Encyclopedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD.
    18. Gale, Richard M., 1991, On the Nature and Existence of God, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
    19. Hájek, Alan, 2004, “Pascal's Wager”, in: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2004 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL: <http: //plato. stanford. edu/archives/spr2004/entries/pascal-wager/>.
    20. Hammond, Nicholas (ed.), 2003, The Cambridge Companion to Pascal, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
    21. James, William, 1956, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy and Human Immortality, New York, Dover.
    22. Jordan, Jeff (ed.), 1994, Gambling on God: Essays on Pascal's Wager, Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield.
    23. __________ ,1996, “Pragmatic Arguments and Belief”, American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 409-420.
    24. __________ , 2005, “Pascal's Wager and James's Will To Believe”, in: William J. Wainwright (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 168-187.
    25. __________ , 2006, Pascal's Wager: Pragmatic Arguments and Belief in God, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
    26. Kant, Immanuel, 1997,  Grounwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. and ed. by Mary Gregor, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
    27. Levi, Paul, 1979, Moore, New York, Humanity Press.
    28. Lycan, William G. and Schlesinger, George N., 1999, “You Bet Your Life: Pascal's Wager Defended”, in: Reason and Responsibility, Feinberg, Joel & Shafer-Landau, Russ (eds.), 10th ed., Belmont: Wadsworth, pp. 118-123.
    29. Mackie, Joan Leslie, 1982, The Miracle of Theism: Argumenst for and against the Existence of God, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
    30. Martin, Michael, 1975, “On Four Critiques of Pascal's Wager”, in: Sophia, Vol. 14, pp. 1-11.
    31. __________ , 1983, “Pascal's Wager as an Argument for Not Believing in God”,  Religious Studies, No. 19.
    32. __________ , 1990, Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, Philadelphia, Temple University Press.
    33. Morris, Thomas V., 1986, “Pascalian Wagering”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 437-454.
    34. Nicholl, Larimore Reid, 1978, “Pascal’s Wager: The Bet Is Off”, in: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 274-280.
    35. Palacios, Miguel Acin, 1921, Los Precedentes Musulmanes del Pari de Pascal, Santander.
    36. Pascal, Blaise, 2003, Pensées, tr. W. F. Trotter, introduction by T. S. Eliot, New York, Dover Publication.
    37. Penelhum, Terence, 1971, Religion and Rationality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, New York, Random House.
    38. Peterson, Michael and Et al., 1991, Reason and Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philsophy of Religion, New York, Oxford, Oxfrod University Press.
    39. Plantinga, Alvin, 1983, “Reason and Belief in God” in: Plantinga, Alvin and Wolterstorff, Nicholas (eds.) Faith and Rationality, Notre Dame, Ind., University of Notre Dame Press.
    40. Plantinga, Alvin and Wolterstorff, Nicholas (eds.), 1983,  Faith and Rationality, Notre Dame, Ind., University of Notre Dame Press.
    41. Pojman, Louis P. (ed.), 1987, Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, Blemont, California, Wadsworth.
    42. Quinn, Philip L., 1994, “Moral Objections to Pascalian Wagering”, in: Gambling on God: Essays on Pascal's Wager, Jordan, Jeff (ed.), Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 61-81.
    43. Rescher, Nicholas, 1985, Pascal's Wager: A Study of Practical Reasoning in Philosophical Theology, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press.
    44. Russell, Bertrand, 1957, Why I Am Not a Christian?, New York, Simon & Schuster.
    45. Saka, Paul, 2001, “Pascal's Wager and the Many Gods Objection”, Religious Studies, Vol. 37, Issue 03, pp. 321-341.
    46. Scriven, Michael, 1966, Primary Philosophy, New York, McGraw-Hill.
    47. Schlesinger, George, 1994, “A Central Theistic Argument”, in: Gambling on God: Essays on Pascal's Wager, Jordan, Jeff (ed.), Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 83-99. Reprinted in, Craig,
    48. William Lane, et al. (eds.), 2003, Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide, Rutgers University Press, pp. 25-40.
    49. Smith, George H., 1989,  Atheism: The Case against God, Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books.
    50. Sobel, Jordan Howard, 2004), Logic and Theism: Arguments For and Against Beliefs in God, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
    51. Swinburne, Richard, 2005, Faith and Reason, 2nd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press.
    52. Voltaire, F. M. A., 1971,  Philosophical Dictionary, ed. & trans. by T. Besterman, London, Penguin Books.
    53. Wainwright, William J. (ed.), 2005, The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
CAPTCHA Image