Blaise Pascal, Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets [Thoughts of Monsieur Pascal on Religion]

Mark Cohen (Hunter College CUNY)
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Pascal’s Life and the Composition of the Thoughts

In the pre-Newtonian phase of the Scientific Revolution, Pascal offers a perhaps unique and now impossible case of a thinker who was both a scientific genius and a brilliant Christian writer. He made pioneering advances in mathematics, experiment and technology and can lay claim to founding Christian Existentialism. In his Pensées (Thoughts), Pascal synthesizes his intellectual drives, intimate knowledge of life's fragility, his conflicted attraction to social success and his Christian belief in what was soon considered his greatest masterpiece, first published posthumously in 1670. Composed of over 900 fragments on theological and philosophical topics, the text remains as challenging and immediately comprehensible as it was in

4574 words

Citation: Cohen, Mark. "Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25053, accessed 29 March 2024.]

25053 Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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