The earthly wager

Date

2016-05

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Abstract

My main thesis is that one ought to become religious because it will lead to more happiness while on earth, regardless of whether religion is true or false. The argument, the Earthly Wager, is compared and contrasted with prior similar arguments such as Pascal’s Wager and William James’ Will to Believe argument before arguing for the Earthly Wager itself and its accompanying objections. The evidence for the causal relationship between religion and happiness is presented, along with rebuttals against alternative explanations. Moreover, the objection against doxastic voluntarism is addressed with prior findings from psychology and sociology as well as our own empirical data that show that individuals can have indirect control over their beliefs. Next, the objection from virtue epistemology is addressed, and rebutted with the argument that virtue epistemology is too demanding to be a reasonable approach to epistemology.

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Keywords

Earthly, Wager

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