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The Wager Rhetorical Analysis

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In this essay I will be writing about Blaise Pascal, a mathematician and French philosopher whose work became very popular due to his "Wager". Pascal's argument in his essay "The Wager" states that any rational human should believe in God. He states that regardless of whether or not God exists, the option of believing yields the greatest benefit and the least loss out of all the possibilities. In believing in God, one can receive infinite gain which is heaven, if God exist, and would only have finite losses if God does not exist. However, he shares that if one was to bet against god, if one wins or loses, the individual would either gain an insignificant finite if God does not exist, or lose everything if God does exist which would lead to going to Hell. He displays his thoughts in …show more content…

He introduces the idea with a game, a simple wager of " heads or tails". However, in his game, one side of the coin represents the belief that God exist, while the other means that God does not exist. What we bet on in Pascal's Wager is also more than your ordinary school yard gamble with higher stake. In this wager, betting our entire lives, as well as the infinite beyond which we live on this …show more content…

Based on Pascal theory non-Christian believers may also have infinite loss. Morally and ethically atheist or agnostic have also been shunned just because they don't believe in God, while many unmoral people have been praised due to just in the belief of God. Pascal's Wager assumes that belief is also a choice. Choosing to believe strictly for the benefit of oneself is ultimately selfish but in this case will get oneself a pass to heaven. This assumes that a believer will only care about their own

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