Product Description

Blaise Pascal, the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, was a gifted mathematician and physicist, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his reputation now rests. The Penseés 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190085 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-29
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Blaise Pascal (1623-62) left his mark on mathematics, physics, religious controversy and literature. A convert to Jansenism, he engaged in passionate debate with the Jesuits the results of which are the Lettres Provincales, on which, with Pensées, his fame now rests. He is regarded by many as the greatest of French prose stylists. A J Krailsheimer was Tutor in French at Christ Church, Oxford and translated widely from the French.

Customer Reviews

Nobody wrote better than Blaise Pascal.
A great physicist, mathematician, writer and theologist, Pascal was also the inventor, and builder, of the first calculating machine. Pensees is of a rarely attained beauty. To reach its equal you must go to the very best poetry.To wit: "Le silence eternel de ces espaces infinies m'effraie", that is, the eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me. The rest is silence, as his equally talented fellow said.

A Great But Dark Book, By A Great But Flawed Thinker.
Pascal in this work manifests a profound and damaged soul. He is a real giant of the heart and mind. And as a pronounced atheist, i nevertheless regard this work as one of the most insightful and honest books i've ever read. Definitely not for the feint-hearted, this book is very dark in places and also quite fearless. Pascal is a kind of Nietzschean Christian, someone who reflects with his whole being and, unlike most thinkers, someone who actually takes thinking very seriously. A wonderful, if heartbreaking, book.