Pascal’s Wager: A Pragmatic Argument for Belief in God

Should you believe there’s a God? To answer this, we might examine arguments for theism—like first-cause and design arguments—and arguments for atheism—like arguments from evil. These arguments offer evidence for and against God’s existence. Pascal’s wager, originally proposed by Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), takes a more pragmatic approach. Pascal thought that evidence cannot settle the question of whether God exists, so he proposes that you should bet, or wager, on God because of what’s at stake: you have lots to gain and not much to lose. This article explains Pascal’s wager and considers three objections.

al-Ghazālī’s Dream Argument for Skepticism

Author: John Ramsey Categories: Epistemology, Historical Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Islamic Philosophy, Global Philosophy Word Count: 997 Right now you probably think that you are awake, that you are not asleep and dreaming. But do you know you aren’t dreaming? French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) famously asked a question like this at the beginning of … Continue reading al-Ghazālī’s Dream Argument for Skepticism

Dutch Book Arguments

Author: Daniel Peterson Categories: Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Logic and Reasoning Word Count: 1000 Philosophers looking to support a position about how certain we ought to be of some belief, given our other beliefs, sometimes take advantage of Dutch book arguments. These arguments show that alternative positions lead to accepting a series of bets, each … Continue reading Dutch Book Arguments