Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ames.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!nsc!ames!barry From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: C.S. Lewis and reason -- AARRGH! Message-ID: <742@ames.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 16:57:28 EST Article-I.D.: ames.742 Posted: Wed Jan 2 16:57:28 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 01:29:54 EST References: <2153@umcp-cs.UUCP> Distribution: na Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA Lines: 29 [] From umcp-cs!flink (Paul V. Torek): > Now you've heard the sound of one knee jerking! Rosen, if you would put > aside your ideological blinders for a second you might see that believing > in free will is a can't-lose proposition, and disbelieving in it is can't- > win! If you believe you have free will and you're wrong, it was out of > your power to be correct anyway so you haven't lost anything. But if you're > right, you have gained something by exercising your power correctly. There- > fore, anything that implies lack of free will can be dismissed right there. > Lewis was right about that much! Essentially, this is a reworking of Pascal's argument for belief in God. If you believe in Him, and are wrong, you lose nothing, since there is no Heaven or Hell; if you *disbelieve* and are wrong, however, you do hard time in the flamey place. Unfortunately, it shares the same flaw as Pascal's reasoning, namely, that we do not believe or disbelieve in things based on the belief's utility. I base my beliefs on reason, and believe in them because they seem correct, not convenient. And if the fatalists are right then I believe what I believe because I have no choice. But either way, I don't believe in something because the cost-benefit analysis of believing looks favorable. - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USENET: {ihnp4,vortex,dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames!barry SOURCE: ST7891