In this first of two sessions hosted by the C.S. Lewis Society of California, Dr. Graham H. Walker discusses the landmark book, "Pensées," by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the renowned French philosopher, mathematician (e.g., Pascal's triangle), physicist, inventor (e.g., Pascal's mechanical calculator or the Pascaline) and theologian. (The event was held on March 11, 2020, in Oakland, CA.)
Watch Part Two in this link:
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Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand, in France's Auvergne region, in 1623, the son of a tax collector. A convert to Jansenism, he engaged with gusto in a controversy with the Jesuits, which gave rise to his "Lettres Provinciales" on which, with the "Pensées," his literary fame chiefly rests. A remarkable stylist, he is regarded by many as the greatest of French prose artists. He died, after a long illness, in 1662. A contemporary of René Descartes, Pascal was a gifted scientist, but it is his unfinished apologetic book for Christianity upon which his reputation now rests. The "Penseés" is a collection of philosophical fragments, notes and essays in which Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature in psychological, 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.
“I know no pre-twentieth-century book except for the Bible that shoots Christian arrows farther into modern pagan hearts than the 'Pensées.' I have taught ‘Great Books’ classes for twenty years, and every year my students sit silent, even awed, at Pascal more than at any other of the forty great thinkers we cover throughout the history of Western philosophy and theology.”
—Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College
The two sessions on the book were led by Dr. Graham H. Walker, Executive Director at the Independent Institute:
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THESE TWO SESSIONS focus on the following recommended sections of "Pensées" (translated by A. J. Krailsheimer):
Section One, generally, but especially the following sections:
• XXII Proofs of Jesus Christ
• XXVI Christian Morality
• XXVII Conclusion
Section Two, the following sections:
• I Various
• II The Wager
• III Against Indifference
• XXI Two Types of Mind
• XXII Mathematical and Intuitive Mind
• XXIX Relativity of Human Values
• XXX Habit and Conversion
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