Atheist's Wager - Wikipedia Atheist's Wager From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Part of a series on Atheism Concepts History Antitheism Nontheism Atheism and religion (Criticism of atheism / of religion) History of atheism State atheism Outline Types Implicit and explicit Negative and positive Christian India Hindu (Adevism) Buddhist Jewish Muslim Feminist New Atheism Arguments for atheism Against God's existence Atheist's Wager Evil God Challenge Fate of the unlearned Free will God of the gaps Hitchens's razor Incompatible properties Inconsistent revelation Nonbelief Omnipotence paradox Poor design Problem of evil Problem of Hell Russell's teapot Theological noncognitivism Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit People Mikhail Bakunin Jean Baudrillard Albert Camus Richard Dawkins Daniel Dennett Ludwig Feuerbach Sam Harris Christopher Hitchens Baron d'Holbach Bertrand Russell Related stances Agnosticism Weak Strong Agnostic theism Agnostic atheism Ignosticism Apatheism Irreligion Anti-clericalism Antireligion Freethought Parody religion Post-theism Secular humanism Naturalism Humanistic Metaphysical Methodological Religious Secularism Category Religion portal WikiProject v t e The Atheist's Wager, popularised by the philosopher Michael Martin and published in his 1990 book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, is an atheistic response to Pascal's Wager regarding the existence of God. One version of the Atheist's Wager suggests that since a kind and loving god would reward good deeds – and that if no gods exist, good deeds would still leave a positive legacy – one should live a good life without religion.[1][2] Another formulation suggests that a god may reward honest disbelief and punish a dishonest belief in the divine.[3] Explanation[edit] The Wager states that if one were to analyze their options in regard to how to live their life, he or she would arrive at the following possibilities:[1][4][5] You may live a good life and believe in a god, and a benevolent god exists, in which case you go to heaven: your gain is infinite. You may live a good life without believing in a god, and a benevolent god exists, in which case you go to heaven: your gain is infinite. You may live a good life and believe in a god, but no benevolent god exists, in which case you leave a positive legacy to the world; your gain is finite. You may live a good life without believing in a god, and no benevolent god exists, in which case you leave a positive legacy to the world; your gain is finite. You may live an evil life and believe in a god, and a benevolent god exists, in which case you go to hell: your loss is infinite. You may live an evil life without believing in a god, and a benevolent god exists, in which case you go to hell: your loss is infinite. You may live an evil life and believe in a god, but no benevolent god exists, in which case you leave a negative legacy to the world; your loss is finite. You may live an evil life without believing in a god, and no benevolent god exists, in which case you leave a negative legacy to the world; your loss is finite. The following table shows the values assigned to each possible outcome: A benevolent god exists No benevolent god exists Belief in god (B) No belief in god (¬B) Belief in god (B) No belief in god (¬B) Good life (L) +∞ (heaven) +∞ (heaven) +X (positive legacy) +X (positive legacy) Evil life (¬L) −∞ (hell) −∞ (hell) −X (negative legacy) −X (negative legacy) Given these values, Martin argues that the option to live a good life clearly dominates the option of living an evil life, regardless of belief in a god. References[edit] ^ a b Martin, Michael (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Temple University Press. pp. 232–238. ^ Alvin F Berry. So What If...the God of the Bible Exists...Does It Really Matter at the End ... Dog Ear Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 9781457500206. Retrieved 26 January 2013. ^ Philip A Stahl. Atheism: A Beginner's Handbook: All You Wanted to Know About Atheism and Why. ISBN 9780595427376. ^ "The Atheists Wager". Retrieved 26 January 2013. ^ Pascal's Wager as an Argument for Not Believing in God. 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Portal Category Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheist%27s_Wager&oldid=997051792" Categories: Atheism Philosophical arguments Arguments against the existence of God Philosophy of religion Moral realism Hidden categories: Use dmy dates from July 2013 Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية বাংলা Bosanski Ελληνικά Español فارسی Hrvatski Latina Polski Română Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 29 December 2020, at 19:56 (UTC). 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