Blaise Pascal

=== 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>