Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T20:12:55.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Do Infinitesimal Probabilities Neutralize the Infinite Utility in Pascal’s Wager?

from Part III - Extensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2018

Paul Bartha
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Lawrence Pasternack
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
Get access

Summary

In chapter 15, Sylvia Wenmackers explores the implications for Pascal’s Wager if we allow agents to have an infinitesimal probability that God exists. Pascal anticipated and rejected infinitesimal probabilities, but his reasons are not entirely clear. A number of philosophers have argued that infinitesimal probabilities are not merely permissible but sometimes rationally required. It is natural, then, to ask whether Pascal’s Wager succeeds for an agent who combines an infinitely small credence in the existence of God with infinite utility for salvation. This question only makes sense relative to some non-standard decision theory. Wenmackers argues that any such theory should satisfy a ‘harmony’ condition that allows us to combine infinite utilities and infinitesimal probabilities, and she shows that hyperreal decision theory meets this criterion. Within hyperreal decision theory, infinite utility can be ‘neutralized’ by infinitesimal probability, provided the infinitesimal is small enough. There is an interesting analogy here between hyperreal and finite-utility versions of the Wager: in both cases, success or failure depends upon the precise combination of utility and probability values. Wenmackers’ chapter also reviews important concerns about whether the hyperreal formalization is sufficiently faithful to Pascal’s original argument.
Type
Chapter
Information
Pascal's Wager , pp. 293 - 314
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×