Pascal's Wager Rhetorical Analysis

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An Affinity for Infinite Infinity: Pascal’s Wager “Pascal’s Wager” is an argument presented by Blaise Pascal in his 1670 posthumous publication Pensees. It proposes that it is in one’s own best interest to wager for God as, while it may be impossible to be certain of what or if God is, the stakes are infinitely high. Unlike the other arguments for God, Pascal’s Wager does not give epistemic reasons for the existence of God, but rather argues that belief is pragmatic as it offers the possibility of “an eternity of life and happiness” (p. 53). In Pascal’s mind the choice to believe in God is clear: If He exists one receives an eternal life of infinite happiness, and if He does not exist the loss is merely finite. One would be acting without prudence to wager against God, in a game where the odds of gain and loss are tied, and infinity is on the table (p. 53). Pascal’s argument is flawed in that it is Christian exclusive, it fails to recognize all the possible infinities, and gives no credit to the importance of the finite.…show more content…
As finite beings we have an ignorance to the nature of infinity, and there exists an “infinite chaos” between both possibilities. He suggests that, instead of attempting to prove god’s existence, we should make the choice to have faith in God without reasonable evidence. He explains this by comparing belief in God to a game of chance, where one can wager either on God or against Him for the possibility of an infinite reward, stating on page
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