Pascal’s wager: tracking an intended reader in the structure of the argument

Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal 6 (2):391-412 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Pascal’s wager is the name of an argument in favor of belief in God presented by Blaise Pascal in §233 of Thoughts. Ian Hacking (1972) pointed out that Pascal’s text involves three different versions of the argument. This paper proceeds from this identification, but it concerns an examination of the rhetorical strategy realized by Pascal’s argumentation. The final form of Pascal’s argument is considered as a product that could be established only through a specific process of persuasion led with respect to an intended reader with a particular set of initial beliefs. The text uses insights from the pragma‐dialectical approach to argumentation, especially the concept of rhetorical effectiveness of particular choices from the topical potential. The argumentation structure of Pascal’s wager is considered to be a reflection of the anticipated course of dialogue with the reader critically testing the sustainability of Pascal’s standpoint “You should believe in God”. Based on the argumentation reconstruction of three versions of the argument, Pascal’s idea of opponent/audience is identified. A rhetorical analysis of the effects of his argumentative strategy is proposed. The analysis is based on two perspectives on Pascal’s argument: it examines the strategy implemented consistently by all arguments and the strategy of a formulation of different versions of the wager.

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Pascal's wager.Michael Rota - 2017 - Philosophy Compass 12 (4):e12404.
Pascal's Wager.Alan Hájek - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Pascal’s Wagers and James’s Will to Believe.Jeff Jordan - 2005 - In William J. Wainwright (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion. Oxford University Press. pp. 168-187.
On Rescher on Pascal's Wager.Graham Oppy - 1991 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 30 (3):159 - 168.
Pascal’s First Wager Reconsidered: A Virtue Theoretic View.Patrick Toner & Christopher Toner - 2006 - International Philosophical Quarterly 46 (1):75-90.
Pascal's Wagers.Jeff Jordan - 2002 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 26 (1):213–223.
Waging War on Pascal’s Wager.Alan Hájek - 2003 - Philosophical Review 112 (1):27-56.
The Insufficiency of the Many Gods Objection to Pascal’s Wager.Virgil Martin Nemoianu - 2010 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (3):513-530.
Infinite Return: Two Ways of Wagering with Pascal.James Wetzel - 1993 - Religious Studies 29 (2):139 - 149.
Infinite return: Two ways of wagering with Pascal.James Wetzel - 1993 - Religious Studies 29 (2):139-149.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-05-09

Downloads
447 (#39,394)

6 months
49 (#74,755)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations