The Faith of a Genius: On Doubting and Believing in the Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

Philosophy and Culture 38 (3):153-172 (2011)
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Abstract

Pascal is a genius anyway. He, who is also a mathematician, engineer and inventor. However, only very few of the readers know he is a man of deep philosophical and religious thinkers. Doubt in his life and struggle, this is the most stringent kind of doubt - doubt of all things in the world complete skepticism. However, he did not yield. Skeptics say, people can not grasp any truth, the best strategy is no less than any judge. With Pascal may recognize the human intellect, we can not determine what, but our intuition tells us that we can glimpse a little truth. In the road in pursuit of truth can grasp, is the essence of this intuition. In fact, Pascal lifetime in the pursuit of certainty, until he finally obey God in the Christian, his heart was calmed down. Although Pascal has 300 years away from us, he was suspected of struggling with faith and reflection are still the source of modern insight, whether in faith or no faith Both are natural, which is the scope of this article. Pascal is a genius by all measures. He is at the same time a mathematician, a physicist, an engineer and an inventor. Yet known to relatively few readers, he is also a deep philosophical and religious thinker. He has been wrestling with doubting all his life, doubting in its most rigorous form-the all-out skepticism of doubting everything. Yet he does not succumb to it. The skeptic says that one cannot get hold of any truth and the best policy is to withdraw from all judgment. Pascal may concede that by virtue of reason we cannot have certainty, but our very intuition tells us we have a glimpse of something true. It is this intuitive nature that one can hold on to in his / her pursuit of truth. As a matter of fact , Pascal has been searching for certainty all his life, and his heart is not settled until he has finally found peace in submitting to the Christian God. Although Pascal lived more than 300 years before us, Pascal's struggles and reflections on the issue of doubting and believing remain a spring of insights for modem day people, believers and nonbelievers alike, as shall be discussed in this paper

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