Religion, hypocrisy, and betting on secularity: reversing Smilansky's wager

Saul Smilansky presents us with a puzzle which, in combination with a small number of premises, is supposed to generate a reversal of Pascal's wager: the wagerer should bet on a secular lifestyle, and reject religion, as the surest way of pleasing God (if God exists). In this article, we argue...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religious studies
Authors: Lebens, Samuel 1983- (Author) ; Sṭaṭman, Dāniyyêl (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2024
In: Religious studies
Further subjects:B Pascal's wager
B Self-deception
B Hypocrisy
B Faith
B Akrasia
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Summary:Saul Smilansky presents us with a puzzle which, in combination with a small number of premises, is supposed to generate a reversal of Pascal's wager: the wagerer should bet on a secular lifestyle, and reject religion, as the surest way of pleasing God (if God exists). In this article, we argue that the puzzle, once unpacked, isn't particularly puzzling, that the premises aren't true, and that Smilansky's wager is open to both reductio and a reversal of its own.
ISSN:1469-901X
Contains:Enthalten in: Religious studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0034412523000227