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A GAME-THEORETIC ANALYSIS OF PASCAL’S WAGER

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2017

Ahmer Tarar
Ahmer Tarar*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University, 4348 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4348, USA. Email: ahmertarar@tamu.edu URL: http://people.tamu.edu/~ahmertarar/
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Abstract:

Formal analyses of Pascal’s Wager have almost all been decision-theoretic, with a human as the sole decision-maker. This paper analyses Pascal’s Wager in a game-theoretic setting in which the deity whose existence the human is considering wagering on is also a decision-maker. There is an equilibrium in which the human chooses to wager that the deity exists and Pascal’s Wager thus operates, but also one in which the human does not wager. Thus, in a game-theoretic setting, Pascal’s Wager is indeterminate: wagering and not wagering are both consistent with equilibrium behaviour.

Keywords

Pascal’s WagerDecision TheoryGame Theory

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Articles
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Economics & Philosophy , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 31 - 44
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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