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Betting on God: why considerations of simplicity won't help

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1999

BRADLEY ARMOUR-GARB
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Graduate Centre, City University of New York and Brooklyn College, New York, NY 11210
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Abstract

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In his famous Wager, Blaise Pascal attempted to adduce prudential grounds on which to base a belief in God. His argument founders, however, on the notorious ‘Many Gods Problem’ the problem of selecting among the many equi-probable gods on offer. Lycan and Schlesinger try to treat the Many Gods Problem as a problem of empirical over-determination, attempting to overcome it using methodologies familiar from empirical science. I argue that their strategy fails, but that the Many Gods Problem can be solved (or dissolved) nevertheless. The solution I offer both avoids the problem faced by Lycan and Schlesinger, and does so while respecting the original Pascalian intuitions to a greater extent than any solutions thus far proffered.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press