Supposedly somewhere in Small Gods Terry Pratchett makes fun of Pascal’s Wager. I just finished it and can’t recall the passage. I must have skimmed over it. Can someone tell me where I can find it in the book, for instance what is going on in the plot when it comes up?
Although Small Gods is about religion, I don’t think the Pascal’s Wager bit is there.
In Hogfather, there’s this quote: “This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, “Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it’s all true you’ll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn’t then you’ve lost nothing, right?” When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, “We’re going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts…””
Thanks, Andy L, I guess that’s why I couldn’t find it! I could have sworn reading that it was in Small Gods, but I think you are correct.
Glad to help.
Maybe you were hanging out at RationalWiki ? I haven’t edited the page to correct the attribution because that would make my link redundant.
I think it is. When describing the free city (it has been a long time), one of the philosophers proposes something like Pascal’s Wager. The next line is something like “Then the gods met him behind the temple and said ‘This is what we think of Mister Tricky Dick* around these parts’”
My problem is that this might not actually be from Small Gods, but it is definitely Pratchett
( * I vaguely remember a particularly British expression like that being used in the description).
What does Nixon have to do with Small Gods or Hogfather?
On Discworld, the Gods are right up there on Cori Celesti, so atheists have to be particularly firm-minded, and preferably fire-proof.
I was close (you’re right, it’s Hogfather)
"This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, “Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it’s all true you’ll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn’t then you’ve lost nothing, right?” When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, “We’re going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts…”
– (Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)
Yes, I somehow managed to not see the quoted part. Lack of coffee. Sorry.
Yes, thanks, that is probably where I got the attribution from.
Kiln fired is a real advantage.
Cool, I’ve edited it now to correct that…
Pascal’s Wager might not be specifically lampooned in Small Gods, but I think the notion is present in an oblique sense. It’s more like the attitude of deity worshippers in general. Things get more complicated if you don’t attribute disaster and hardship to the whimsy of the gods, and who wants that?.
Oh, it’s definitely referenced, when the philosophers and Brutha are in the tavern, and they are essentially trying to find the least-powerful god to insult safely.
Didactylos has the cleverest name in all of Pratchett.
It looks like this one has been solved, but a good resource for this sort of thing is the Annotated Pratchett File. It hasn’t been updated in several years so it doesn’t cover the more recent books, but it pretty thoroughly explains the references in the Discworld books up through Monstrous Regiment.