Pascal's Wager

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/pascals-wager

1. What is the originating text?
2. What is the philosophical framework?
3. What is Pascal's Wager and why does it talk about winning everything or losing nothing?
4. Why does Pascal say believing in God is the best choice even if we don’t know if God exists?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the originating text?Pensées, by Blaise Pascal
2. What is the philosophical framework?Decision theory, probabilistic reasoning applied to existential questions
3. What is Pascal's Wager and why does it talk about winning everything or losing nothing?Pascal's Wager is a game idea that says if you believe in God you could win eternal happiness, and if you don’t believe you could lose eternal punishment. It shows how people think about big choices when they don’t know for sure.
4. Why does Pascal say believing in God is the best choice even if we don’t know if God exists?Because believing could give infinite good (eternal happiness) while not believing could give infinite bad (eternal punishment). The risk of losing is bigger than the risk of losing a little.

Decision Theory: A framework for analyzing choices under conditions of uncertainty, weighing potential outcomes and probabilities.
Epistemology: The branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge, its nature, scope, and justification.
Theism: The belief in the existence of God or gods.