PHIL 1101 : Philosophy or Religion - Blaise Pascal & William James.docx

• School: Northeastern University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1101
• Professor: Serena Parekh

Document Summary

Blaise pascal the wager : wants to move away from the question does god exist, he does this because he thinks this questions couldn"t be answered through reason, pascal"s questions: given that we don"t know and perhaps cannot know whether god exists, but that we must believe on way or the other, would you put your money on theism or atheism? , answer: thesis is smarter than atheism, the wager, if you believe in god and are mistaken, you haven"t lost much, if you don"t believe in god and you are wrong, you lose an infinite amount, if you don"t believe in god and you are right, you haven"t gained much, but if you do believe in god and are correct, you gain an infinite amount, what if a person can"t bring himself to believe, then pascal believes the person needs to do things that believers do (pray, go to church)