The sublime rhetoric of Pascal's wager

Abstract

ABSTRACTBlaise Pascal's famous wager continues to influence debates over existential risk. This paper analyzes the structure and use of the argument with four goals: first, to establish the wager as a fundamentally rhetorical move, undiminished in force by the various logical objections that have been leveled over time; second, to link it to the rhetorical sublime and a tradition of negative theology; and third, to examine its contemporary use, focusing on debates over nuclear weapons. The purpose of this discussion is not only to recover Pascal's reputation as an expert rhetorician but also to illustrate the potential political benefits and hazards of his wager's modern uses in debates over public policy, alongside possibilities offered by the sublime more generally.