[MD] Wanted: A proper foundation

[Ham Priday]

Craig and Ron --


[Ham quoting Pascal's Wager]:
"Let us weigh the gain and loss in choosing 'heads' that God is.  Let
 us weigh the two cases: if you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose
 nothing.  Wager then unhesitatingly that He is."

[Craig coming up with four possibiities]:
> The proper analysis must consider all 4 possibilities:  God exists & you
> Believe he does; God exists & you do Not believe he does; god Doesn't
> exist & you Believe he does; god Doesn't exist & you do Not believe he
> does.
> If god Doesn't exist, it is better Not to believe he does, because a false
> belief leads to all sorts of problems.
> If God does exist, then he will punish those irrational & imprudent people
> who Believe he does without good reasons & he will reward those rational &
> prudent people who do Not believe because they don't have good reason to.
> So whether God exists or Doesn't exist, it is better to Not believe he 
> does.
> QED

Of course, I included Pascal's quote not to argue for "God's existence" but 
for the rationality of a primary source as a metaphysical foundation.  Your 
premises that 1) God punishes those who believe he exists "without good 
reasons" and 2) God rewards those who "don't have good reasons" to believe 
are unwarranted assumptions that are irrelevant to the wager.  The question 
is not concerned with "rewards & punishments" in an afterlife, but whether 
it is more reasonable to believe your existence is part of a higher reality 
or purpose than not.  If you are an MoQuist, I assume you find it more 
reasonable to believe DQ is the reality you are derived from or participate 
in.  As an Essentialist I believe in the reasonableness of the primacy of 
Essence.

[Ron expresses his ambivalence on the matter]:
> Ya know Ham, the more I discover about metaphysics, the more I've begun
> to realize, I really don't need one, I mean I have a sort of really loose 
> open
> philosophy. But a metaphysic? just seems to keep getting in the way of
> things.

Yeah, Ron.  Metaphysics forces you to think on a broader scale of things 
which can be upsetting.  Better to
limit your vision to the mundanities of common experience and avoid that 
risk.  Might as well live by a "loose philosophy", if any at all, since 
there's nothing you can do about reality but accept what fate brings you.

Spoken like a true nihilist.

--Ham