If it's impossible to know if an entity even exists, then for all intents and purposes it does not, as the ontology of that entity has absolutely no bearing on us whatsoever. It's like asking "What might be in another universe that doesn't interact with this one whatsoever?" -- if there's no way to know, then there's no reason to entertain the idea in the first place.
Objection. Affirming the Consequent.
Could you actually explain how I've committed the fallacy there?
All I'm saying is that if it's impossible to know if an entity even exists, then there's obviously no reason to consider its existence. If something can't even interact with us in a way that makes its existence as an entity known, then there is no reason to consider it a possible entity.
Atheism has different definitions and different degrees of adherence. I define it as somebody who asserts the absolute certainty that there is no god, deity, supernatural beings, ect (possibly lamely citing the lack of evidence)
I apologize, but you don't get to define words yourself for the purposes of an argument. "Atheism" is an umbrella term that only strictly requires what its etymology implies: A lack of theism.
Also, this infinite belief systems idea, it has merit, but one has to make the assumption that any deity petty enough to send souls to miserable afterlives is involved enough to try to intervene.
Why would you assume this? Why are you trying to apply naive human psychology to unknowable and completely hypothetical transcendent entities? Why are you assuming anything at this point?
So your right, there is perhaps no way to know if a deity exists or not, or what the character of that deity might be like. So we have to work on assumptions, hedging our bets and playing the odds.
The odds are unknowable.
Sure, the deity could be a purple fire-breathing fish that only sends Mexican left-handed accountants to heaven. Think is, its not likely, if you analyses the ideas behind it.
Why is that any less likely than anything else, when the divine entities involved are completely arbitrary and unknowable?
Just because a variable is unknown, doesn't make it random.
Except in this case, it is, because we're talking about completely arbitrary hypothetical cases involving an infinite and uncountable set of religious and spiritual ideas that go beyond the Western concept of "gods", never mind your Abrahamic view of a vengeful man-in-the-sky.
Also, you're forgetting part of the risk here: When you "hedge your bets" and believe disingenuously in something, that takes mental effort that could be applied to real-world problems, or even honest religion. The hidden cost of Pascal's Wager (aside from the fact that it's, you know, completely bunk) is that the energy, time, and focus you spend on this one hideously arbitrary and pointless probability-game detracts from the energy, time, and focus you could be spending on other pursuits. The most arbitrary part of it is the fact that it even involves "gods" and an "afterlife", each of which are, again, individual snippets of belief within the infinitely large cluster of uncountable metaphysical and religious ideas.
Sure, you spend time, money and effort in pursuing some sort of spirtitual life, but it doesn't have to be so. After all, say you are in your deathbed, or sitting in row 12b on a plane on a plane nose-diving toward a fiery crash on a mountainside, your odds work in your favor if you just say "Oh Lord forgive this worthless sinner!" or whatever. Worst case, you die and are just dead. Best case, you go to heaven! Having not played the game in this circumstance removes any chance of going to heaven. Here, you are dead, or go dead and go to hell.
The game works, because while death is certain, any promise of an afterlife is not. I put my bets on the Abrahamic religions because for one, it involves an angry vengeful god that sends people to hell for not believing in him. Secondly, its rather trivial to cheat the system and not put too much time or effort into it, you don't really have to go to church or buy books or anything, just ask for forgiveness sometime before you die and commit some sin.
Also, just because there are infinite possibilities for a deity, you have to make the assumption that the more popular ones are closer to the truth. A petty vengeful god will make himself known, like the god in the Bible. So one tends to favor his odds toward the god written on millions of books and such and not so much the purple fire-breathing fish.
If you play your odds and go with the Abrahamic god, your best case scenario is heaven, and if you are wrong, well, you lose anyways. You are a left-handed Mexican accountant, tough luck, but at least you went out like a champ, playing the odds.
Author
Topic: Religion (Read 34311 times)