Combining Texts

Ideas for 'The Fixation of Belief', 'works' and 'Logical Necessity: Some Issues'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts


2 ideas

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
Only God is absolutely infinite [Cantor, by Hart,WD]
     Full Idea: Cantor said that only God is absolutely infinite.
     From: report of George Cantor (works [1880]) by William D. Hart - The Evolution of Logic 1
     A reaction: We are used to the austere 'God of the philosophers', but this gives us an even more austere 'God of the mathematicians'.
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / d. Pascal's Wager
If death is annihilation, belief in heaven is a cheap pleasure with no disappointment [Peirce]
     Full Idea: If death is annihilation, then the man who believes that he will certainly go straight to heaven when he dies, provided he have fulfilled certain simple observances in this life, has a cheap pleasure which will not be followed by the least disappointment.
     From: Charles Sanders Peirce (The Fixation of Belief [1877], p.12)
     A reaction: This is a nicely wicked summary of one side of Pascal's options. All the problems of the argument are built into Peirce's word "cheap". Peirce goes on to talk about ostriches burying their heads.