Blaise Pascal

1623-1662 · French · Apologetics, Philosophy of Religion, Mathematics, Physics

Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.

At nineteen Blaise Pascal built a calculating machine; by his mid-twenties his vacuum experiments had overturned the ancient idea that nature abhors a void. Then on November 23, 1654, a religious experience permanently redirected him. He recorded it on a parchment sewn into his coat: Fire. God of Abraham, not of philosophers. He died at thirty-nine, leaving the unfinished notes gathered as the Pensées.

Topics Blaise Pascal addresses

• the Wager
• the heart and its reasons
• divertissement
• human misery and greatness
• the three orders
• the Hidden God
• efficacious grace
• the thinking reed
• original sin and the Fall
• esprit de finesse and esprit géométrique
• faith above, not against, reason
• concupiscence and corruption of the will
• self-love
• the self is hateful
• infinite stakes and expected-value reasoning
• the automaton and habit in faith
• death as the one certainty
• the eternal silence of infinite spaces
• the two infinities
• christocentrism
• critique of natural theology
• miracles and prophecy as historical proofs
• the Mystery of Jesus
• Jesuit casuistry critique

Questions to put to Blaise Pascal

The Wager and the Logic of Belief

• What exactly is the Wager argument, and why do you say reason can decide nothing about God's existence?
• How can taking holy water and going to mass actually change what I believe?
• Isn't the Wager just a cynical way to trick yourself into faith?
• What do you mean when you say we're already embarked — that we've already placed our bet?
• Does the Wager work if there are many possible gods to wager on, not just the Christian one?

The Heart, Reason, and the Hidden God

• What do you mean by 'the heart has its reasons that reason does not know'?
• How is the heart different from emotion or sentiment?
• Why does God hide himself instead of making his existence clear to everyone?
• If God is hidden, how can anyone be blamed for not finding him?
• What's the difference between saying faith is above reason versus against reason?

Human Misery and Greatness

• Why do you say humans are both wretched and great at the same time?
• What do you mean by calling man a 'thinking reed'?
• How does the doctrine of original sin explain the contradictions in human nature?
• What's at stake for you in the claim that we're unintelligible to ourselves without the Fall?
• Why can't secular philosophy adequately explain the human condition?

Divertissement and the Flight from Death

• What do you mean by divertissement, and why is it more than just entertainment?
• How is all worldly activity a form of running away from ourselves?
• Why do we prefer the chase to the catch, the game to the prize?
• What happens when we're forced to sit alone in a quiet room with nothing to do?
• Does your critique of diversion mean we should abandon work, science, and ambition entirely?

Grace, Predestination, and the Jansenist Controversy

• What is efficacious grace, and why must it be irresistible?
• How do you respond to the charge that your view is just Calvinism in Catholic dress?
• If God decides who receives grace, how are we responsible for our damnation?
• What was really at stake in your dispute with the Jesuits over casuistry?
• Why did you write the Provincial Letters, and what were you trying to expose?

The Three Orders and the Apology for Christianity

• What are the three orders — bodies, minds, and charity — and why can't we move between them?
• How can Christianity be true if it's permanently inaccessible to those without grace?
• What role do miracles and prophecy play in your defense of Christianity?
• Why did you choose to address your apology to skeptics and the indifferent rather than atheists?
• What is esprit de finesse, and how does it differ from geometrical reasoning?

Converse with Blaise Pascal on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Blaise Pascal's own writing, cited to the page.