The author draws on several literary and philosophical approaches to bring out some of the themes embedded in Pascal’s wager, such as: the world as an arena of one’s confrontation with one’s vision of oneself; the notions of ‘here’ and ‘there’ in relation to the intuition of the immortality of the individual human soul; God as an answer to human longing for a Witness; belief in God as ultimate concern for human life; the transnatural destiny of the human person. These existential insights are complemented by the analytical considerations and criticism of Pascal’s wager put forward by Richard Swinbume in his book Faith and Reason (2005). Swinburne’s inquiry pivots around the problem of a person’s responsibility for the beliefs he/she holds and what it means to be rational. The purpose of the article is to actualize the question: What is the stake in Pascal’s wager?
Autor analizuje klasyczne rozumowanie, zwane „zakładem Pascala”, w kontekście teorii decyzji, wyróżniając w nim trzy argumenty: (i) argument z silnej dominacji, (ii) argument z wartości oczekiwanej oraz (iii) argument z uogólnionej wartości oczekiwanej; dyskutuje zarzuty względem poprawności materialnej i formalnej rozumowania Pascala w jego trzeciej wersji, rozważa kontrowersje natury moralnej względem argumentu, a także docieka znaczenia jego konkluzji.
EN
The Author examines the classical reasoning called “Pascal’s wager” in the framework of decision theory. He distinguishes in Pascal’s original text three separate arguments: (i) the argument from superdominance, (ii) the argument from expectation, and (iii) the argument from generalized expectations. The paper addresses the third argument, discusses objections raised against it and finally investigates the true meaning of its conclusion.