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Summary Of Blaise Pascal 's ' The Wager '

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Blaise Pascal’s famous work, “the Wager,” utilizes about the concept of pragmatic justification in the terms of deciding whether or not to believe in God. In response to this, William Clifford publishes “The Ethics of Belief” countering Pascal’s view. Neither Pascal or Clifford’s views are perfect, but they are both worth examining. Clifford 's universal rejection of pragmatic justification is ultimately too harsh on Pascal’s Wager.
Pascal utilizes reason to come to the conclusion whether or not it is beneficial to believe in God’s existence. It is important to note that in Pascal’s Wager, Pascal is not using reason to determine if God exists, just if it is more beneficial to believe in God’s existence. The way Pascal views it, there are …show more content…

The idea of pragmatic justification is an important concept to understand. Pragmatic justification is believing in something not because there is irrefutable evidence for it, rather, because it is beneficial for one to do so based on the possible outcome of believing. Pascal’s Wager serves as a good example of pragmatic justification. Pascal even provides advice for getting oneself to accept his wager, taking a “fake it till you make it” type of approach. One suggestion is to act like one believes, which ideally, will eventually lead that person to actually believe. For example, attending religious services. Another is to “deaden your acuteness,” as Pascal puts it (Peterson et al. 104). This aims to remove one’s fears to help them believe. Finally, Pascal suggests that one abates their passions, “which are…stumbling blocks” (Peterson et al. 104). With this advice, Pascal hopes to assist others in accepting the wager. Clifford responds to Pascal’s Wager with “The Ethics of Belief.” For Clifford, a major problem he has with Pascal’s Wager is the lack of evidence. “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence” (Peterson et al. 103). For Clifford, sufficient evidence and origin of belief are all that matter. A belief is a disposition to act, and Clifford maintains that one cannot separate belief and action. Consequently, Clifford

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