Blaise Pascal

He was an inventor,
mathematician,
physicist and
theological writer,
born on June 19, 1623
in France. He was the
third of the four
children and only son
of Etienne and
Antoinette
 In 1640, Pascal also published
his first written work, Essay on
Conic Sections. The writings
constituted an important leap
forward in projective geometry,
which involved transferring a 3-
D object onto a 2-D field.
 In 1642, inspired by the idea
of making his fathers job of
calculating taxes easier, Blaise
Pascal started work on a
calculator dubbed the Pascaline.
It was a numerical wheel
calculator with movable dials,
each representing a numerical
digit.
 He offers a pragmatic reason for
believing in God: even under the
assumption that Gods existence is
unlikely, the potential benefits of
believing are so vast as to make
betting on theism rational. The super
dominance form of the argument
conveys the basic Pascalian idea and
the expectation argument refines it.
 Critics in turn have raised a
number of now-classic challenges. (i)
According to intellectualism,
deliberately choosing which beliefs
to hold is impossible. (ii) According
to many-gods objection, Pascals
wager begs the question and hence
is irrational.
(iii) According to evidentialism,
Pascalian reasoning is epistemically
irresponsible and immoral. (iv)
According to various paradoxes,
reference to infinite values is
decision-theoretic non-sense.
Technological Institute of the
Philippines
Manila

Introduction to Philosophy

Abarnas, Jovy M.