What is a bet? I wasn't sure of the definition, but it only took a quick internet search to realize that the word "betting" is somewhat similar to the act of gambling. You place something, it could be anything, in play without knowing the results. Learning this definition helped me better understand Pascal's argument about the existence or non-existence of God. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Pascal says that there is really no way to know if God really exists. No one really knows what happens after death. But it uses basic reasoning to determine the consequences of believing or not believing in the existence of God. The argument is quite simple and can be divided into four scenarios. First scenario, God exists and you believe in him. There is no punishment, in fact you receive a place in heaven and eternal rewards. What's better than being able to get all the rewards you want, forever? Nothing, said Pascal. This is what you receive in exchange for your faith in Almighty God. Second scenario, God exists but you don't believe in God. Terrible idea. You are stuck in hell and receive eternal suffering, obviously no one wants that in their afterlife. Third scenario, you believe that God exists but that is not the case, nothing happens, neither punishments nor rewards. And finally, if you don't believe in God and he doesn't exist, you have absolutely nothing to lose or gain. So the question now is: should we believe in God? We are selfish creatures. Always looking for what benefits us, how can we suffer as little as possible from our actions? Our reasoning constantly makes us think about this. An example of this was discussed during the conference and goes like this: Your child is about to be hit by a car and you can avoid this by putting yourself in the child's position. Onlookers might think this is a heroic act, a selfless sacrifice. In reality, why did you save your child? Because he's your child and you love him? This is partly true, but there are other reasons behind this action. Many parents would say, “Of course I would sacrifice my life for my child. The pain of losing him would be unbearable. » There you have it, the reward or benefit you would receive in exchange for your actions. You would rather let this child live in your place because you don't dare live in pain or suffering. Instead, you would like to erase your existence and feel no guilt. Everything was for your benefit.