Atheist's Wager

[stromboli]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist's_Wager

The Atheist's Wager, formulated by the philosopher Michael Martin and published in his 1990 book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, is an atheistic response to Pascal's Wager regarding the existence of God.

One version of the Atheist's Wager suggests that since a kind and loving god would reward good deeds â€" and that if no gods exist, good deeds would still leave a positive legacy â€" one should live a good life without religion.[1][2] Another formulation suggests that a god may reward honest disbelief, a reward which would then be jeopardized by a dishonest belief in the divine.[3]

Read the link. This is one version, a response to Pascal's wager.



A benevolent god exists   
God exists (G)   God does not exist (¬G)

Belief (B)   +∞ (infinite gain) âˆ'1 (finite loss)
Disbelief (¬B)   âˆ'∞ (infinite loss) +1 (finite gain)

Belief in god (B)   No belief in god (¬B)
Good life (L)   +∞ (heaven)   +∞ (heaven)
Evil life (¬L)   -∞ (hell)   -∞ (hell)

No benevolent god exists
Belief in god (B)   No belief in god (¬B)
Good life (L)   +X (positive legacy)   +X (positive legacy)
Evil life (¬L)   -X (negative legacy)   -X (negative legacy)

Like I said, read the link. Good discussion points for you philosophers.

[dtq123]

So much better than that other man's wager.

[Deidre32]

This is absolutely epic! lol

The trouble with PW besides the obvious, is that it tends to cater only to the Christian version of a god. Pascal was a Christian, so stands to reason that is the idea he was trying to promote. Something to note of importance with PW however, is that he wasn't so much interested in converting atheists, as much as he was interested in getting luke warm Christians to commit to being more zealous/committed Christians.

[stromboli]

Waiting for our current theist who says he likes philosophy to weigh in.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This is absolutely epic! lol

The trouble with PW besides the obvious, is that it tends to cater only to the Christian version of a god. Pascal was a Christian, so stands to reason that is the idea he was trying to promote. Something to note of importance with PW however, is that he wasn't so much interested in converting atheists, as much as he was interested in getting luke warm Christians to commit to being more zealous/committed Christians.

I call that Cthulhu's Corollary to Pascal's Wager.  "What if you believe in the wrong god?"