Pensees

"I know of no religious writer more pertinent to our time." -- T. S. Eliot, Introduction to Pens?es "Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true," declared Pascal in his Pens?es. "The cure for this," he explained, "is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. Next make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is." Motivated by the 17th-century view of the supremacy of human reason, Pascal (1623-62) had intended to write an ambitious apologia for Christianity, in which he argued the inability of reason to address metaphysical problems. His untimely death prevented his completion of the work, but the fragments published posthumously in 1670 form a vital part of religious and philosophical literature. Essential reading for students of history, philosophy, and theology, the Pens?es remain among the liveliest and most eloquent defenses of Christianity ever written.

"I know of no religious writer more pertinent to our time." -- T. S. Eliot, Introduction to Pens?es "Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true," declared Pascal in his Pens?es. "The cure for this," he explained, "is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. Next make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is." Motivated by the 17th-century view of the supremacy of human reason, Pascal (1623-62) had intended to write an ambitious apologia for Christianity, in which he argued the inability of reason to address metaphysical problems. His untimely death prevented his completion of the work, but the fragments published posthumously in 1670 form a vital part of religious and philosophical literature. Essential reading for students of history, philosophy, and theology, the Pens?es remain among the liveliest and most eloquent defenses of Christianity ever written.

A passionate defence of religious faith by the great seventeenth-century philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal was the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his reputation now rests. The Pensees is a collection of philosophical fragments, notes and essays in which he explores the contradictions of human nature in psychological, social, metaphysical and, above all, theological terms. Humankind emerges from Pascal's analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but also as a being whose existence can be transformed through faith in God's grace. Translated with an Introduction by A. J. Krailsheimer

A passionate defence of religious faith by the great seventeenth-century philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal was the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his reputation now rests. The Pensées is a collection of philosophical fragments, notes and essays in which he explores the contradictions of human nature in psychological, social, metaphysical and, above all, theological terms. Humankind emerges from Pascal's analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but also as a being whose existence can be transformed through faith in God's grace. Translated with an Introduction by A. J. Krailsheimer

2019 Reprint of 1960 Edition. Edited with an introduction and notes by Louis Lafuma. Translated by John Warrington. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. The Pensees ("Thoughts") is a collection of fragments on theology and philosophy written by 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensees was in many ways his life's work. The Pensees represented Pascal's defense of the Christian religion. The concept of "Pascal's Wager" stems from a portion of this work. The Pensees is a collection of philosohical fragments, notes and essays in which Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature in pscyhological, social, metaphysical and - above all - theological terms. Mankind emerges from Pascal's analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but who can be transformed through faith in God's grace.

2019 Reprint of 1960 Edition. Edited with an introduction and notes by Louis Lafuma. Translated by John Warrington. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. The Pensees ("Thoughts") is a collection of fragments on theology and philosophy written by 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensees was in many ways his life's work. The Pensees represented Pascal's defense of the Christian religion. The concept of "Pascal's Wager" stems from a portion of this work. The Pensees is a collection of philosohical fragments, notes and essays in which Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature in pscyhological, social, metaphysical and - above all - theological terms. Mankind emerges from Pascal's analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but who can be transformed through faith in God's grace.