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serve Pascal's apologetic purpose-to induce a mood of humility and self-depreciation in his reader by showing how far the dimensions and wonders of nature exceed the bounds of human comprehension.
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A letter to incite to the search after God. And then to make people seek Him among the philosophers, sceptics, and dogmatists, who disquiet him who inquires of them.
The conduct of God, who disposes all things kindly, is to put religion into the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace. But to will to put it into the mind and heart by force and threats is not to put religion there, but terror, terorrem potius quam religionem.
Nisi terrerentur et non docerentur, improba quasi dominatio videretur (Aug., Ep. 48 or 49), Contra Mendacium ad Consentium.
Order.—Men despise religion; they hate it, and fear it is true. To remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we must make it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we must prove it is true. Venerable, because it has perfect knowledge of man; lova...
In every dialogue and discourse, we must be able to say to those who take offence, “Of what do you complain?”
To begin by pitying unbelievers; they are wretched enough by their condition. We ought only to revile them where it is beneficial; but this does them harm.[Pg 53]
To pity atheists who seek, for are they not unhappy enough? To inveigh against those who make a boast of it.
And will this one scoff at the other? Who ought to scoff? And yet, the latter does not scoff at the other, but pities him.
… Let them at least learn what is the religion they attack, before attacking it. If this religion boasted of having a clear view of God, and of possessing it open and unveiled, it would be attacking it to say that we see nothing in the world which shows it with this clearness. But since, on the contrary, it says that men are in darkness and estrang...
Before entering into the proofs of the Christian religion, I find it necessary to point out the sinfulness of those men who live in indifference to the search for truth in a matter which is so important to them, and which touches them so nearly. Of all their errors, this doubtless is the one which most convicts them of foolishness and blindness, an...
- Blaise Pascal
- 2020
Jul 3, 2023 · Pascal saw Jesus as the indispensable mediator between God and humankind. He believed that the Catholic Church was the only religion to teach the truth about human nature and therefore...
Jan 9, 2023 · Pascal's aim was to convince the libertine, or nonbeliever, rather than to defend believers (a more modest aim common among contemporary apologies). 1 The puzzle is that while Pascal emphasized that God is hidden from us, he also seemed to accept that signs of God are everywhere in nature.
Aug 21, 2007 · As Ferreyrolles (1984) shows, there are numerous references in Pascal to a ‘law of nature’. However, Pascal does not argue that this natural law can be discovered by reason, or that it acquires its obligatory force from human convention or contracts.
Jun 11, 2009 · The seventeenth-century scientist, mathematician, and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623–62) offers a timeless argument for the truth of Christianity based on what at first glance appears to be a paradox in human nature.
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Despite chronic ill health, Pascal made historic contributions to mathematics and to physical science, including both experimental and theoretical work on hydraulics, atmospheric pressure, and the existence and nature of the vacuum.
