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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
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[]

	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
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