Blaise Pascal Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Literature == [[File:Blaise pascal.jpg|thumb|Pascal]] In literature, Pascal is regarded as one of the most important authors of the French Classical Period and is read today as one of the greatest masters of French prose. His use of satire and wit influenced later [[polemic]]ists. === The ''Provincial Letters'' === {{Main|Lettres provinciales}} Beginning in 1656–57, Pascal published his memorable attack on [[casuistry]], a popular [[Ethics|ethical]] method used by [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] thinkers in the early modern period (especially the [[Jesuits]], and in particular [[Antonio Escobar y Mendoza|Antonio Escobar]]). Pascal denounced casuistry as the mere use of complex reasoning to justify moral laxity and all sorts of [[sin]]s. The 18-letter series was published between 1656 and 1657 under the pseudonym '''Louis de Montalte''' and incensed [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]. The king ordered that the book be [[book burning|shredded and burnt]] in 1660. In 1661, in the midst of the [[formulary controversy]], the Jansenist school at Port-Royal was condemned and closed down; those involved with the school had to sign a 1656 [[papal bull]] condemning the teachings of Jansen as heretical. The final letter from Pascal, in 1657, had defied [[Alexander VII]] himself. Even Pope Alexander, while publicly opposing them, nonetheless was persuaded by Pascal's arguments. Aside from their religious influence, the ''Provincial Letters'' were popular as a literary work. Pascal's use of humor, mockery, and vicious satire in his arguments made the letters ripe for public consumption, and influenced the prose of later French writers like [[Voltaire]] and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. It is in the ''Provincial Letters'' that Pascal made his oft-quoted apology for writing a long letter, as he had not had time to write a shorter one. From Letter XVI, as translated by Thomas M'Crie: 'Reverend fathers, my letters were not wont either to be so prolix, or to follow so closely on one another. Want of time must plead my excuse for both of these faults. The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.' Charles Perrault wrote of the ''Letters'': "Everything is there—purity of language, nobility of thought, solidity in reasoning, finesse in raillery, and throughout an ''agrément'' not to be found anywhere else."<ref>Charles Perrault, ''Parallèle des Anciens et des Modernes'' (Paris, 1693), Vol. I, p. 296.</ref> === Philosophy === Pascal is arguably best known as a philosopher, considered by some the second greatest French mind behind [[René Descartes]]. He was a dualist following Descartes.<ref>Ariew, Roger (2007). Descartes and Pascal. ''Perspectives on Science'' 15 (4):397-409.</ref> However, he is also remembered for his opposition to both the [[rationalism]] of the likes of Descartes and simultaneous opposition to the main countervailing epistemology, [[empiricism]], preferring [[fideism]]. He cared above all about the philosophy of religion. Pascalian theology has grown out of his perspective that humans are, according to Wood, "born into a duplicitous world that shapes us into duplicitous subjects and so we find it easy to reject God continually and deceive ourselves about our own sinfulness".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blaise-pascal-on-duplicity-sin-and-the-fall-9780199656363?cc=gb&lang=en&|title=Blaise Pascal on Duplicity, Sin, and the Fall|date=4 July 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199656363|series=Changing Paradigms in Historical and Systematic Theology|access-date=24 March 2016|archive-date=9 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809115036/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blaise-pascal-on-duplicity-sin-and-the-fall-9780199656363?cc=gb&lang=en&|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Philosophy of mathematics=== Pascal's major contribution to the [[philosophy of mathematics]] came with his ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' ("Of the Geometrical Spirit"), originally written as a preface to a geometry textbook for one of the famous [[Petites écoles de Port-Royal]] ("Little Schools of Port-Royal"). The work was unpublished until over a century after his death. Here, Pascal looked into the issue of discovering truths, arguing that the ideal of such a method would be to found all propositions on already established truths. At the same time, however, he claimed this was impossible because such established truths would require other truths to back them up—first principles, therefore, cannot be reached. Based on this, Pascal argued that the procedure used in geometry was as perfect as possible, with certain principles assumed and other propositions developed from them. Nevertheless, there was no way to know the assumed principles to be true. Pascal also used ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' to develop a theory of [[definition]]. He distinguished between definitions which are conventional labels defined by the writer and definitions which are within the language and understood by everyone because they naturally designate their referent. The second type would be characteristic of the philosophy of [[essentialism]]. Pascal claimed that only definitions of the first type were important to science and mathematics, arguing that those fields should adopt the philosophy of [[Formalism (philosophy)|formalism]] as formulated by Descartes. In ''De l'Art de persuader'' ("On the Art of Persuasion"), Pascal looked deeper into geometry's [[axiomatic method]], specifically the question of how people come to be convinced of the [[axioms]] upon which later conclusions are based. Pascal agreed with [[Montaigne]] that achieving certainty in these axioms and conclusions through human methods is impossible. He asserted that these principles can be grasped only through intuition, and that this fact underscored the necessity for submission to God in searching out truths. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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