Editing Pensées

{{Short description|Collection of fragments written by Blaise Pascal}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Pascal - Pensées, 2e édition G. Desprez, 1670.djvu|thumb|Second edition of [[Blaise Pascal]]'s {{lang|fr|Pensées}}, 1670]]
The '''{{lang|fr|Pensées}}''' (''Thoughts'') is a collection of fragments written by the French [[17th century in philosophy|17th-century philosopher]] and mathematician [[Blaise Pascal]]. Pascal's [[religious conversion]] led him into a life of [[asceticism]], and the {{lang|fr|Pensées}} was in many ways his life's work.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbD0B2HcTn4C&pg=PA155|page=155|title=History of Philosophy: Descartes to Leibniz|isbn=0809100681|first=Frederick Charles|last=Copleston|author-link=Frederick Copleston|year=1958|publisher=Paulist Press }}</ref> It represented Pascal's defense of the [[Christian religion]], and the concept of "[[Pascal's wager]]" stems from a portion of this work.<ref name="hammond">{{Cite book |last=Hammond |first=Nicholas |title=The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |year=2000 |isbn=9780198600244 |editor1=[[Adrian Hastings]] |page=518 |chapter=Blaise Pascal |author-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor2=Alistair Mason |editor3=Hugh Pyper |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ognCKztR8a4C&pg=PA518}}</ref>

Prior to his death, Pascal was working on a [[Christian apologetics]] book which was never completed. When Pascal died in 1662, he left behind several [[Drafting (writing)|draft]] notes. They were edited by others, and the notes were first published in the form of ''Pensées'' in 1670. The order with which the notes should be read was unclear, and various subsequent editions have attempted to order them by themes or by writing dates. The book was censored by the [[Catholic Church]], with its printing forbidden by the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]].

==Contents==
The style of the book has been described as [[aphoristic]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heller |first1=Erich |title=The importance of Nietzsche: Ten Essays |date=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=67}}</ref> or by [[Peter Kreeft]] as more like a collection of "[[saying|sayings]]" than a book.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kreeft |first1=Peter |title=Christianity for Modern Pagans Pascal's Pensees |date=2015 |publisher=Ignatius Press |page=11}}</ref>

Pascal is sceptical of [[cosmological]] arguments for God's existence and says that when religious people present such arguments they give atheists "ground for believing that the proofs of our religion are very weak".<ref>{{cite book |title=God and Nature Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science |date=2023 |publisher=University of California Press |page=144}}</ref> He argues that the Bible actually cautions against these approaches. Scripture says that "God is a hidden God, and that, since the corruption of nature, He has left men in a darkness from which they can escape only through Jesus Christ, without whom all communion with God is cut off".<ref>{{cite book |title=From Plato to Derrida |date=2010 |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |page=467}}</ref>

He writes that it is an "astounding fact" that no "canonical" writer ever offers such proofs, and that this omission makes it "worthy of attention."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pascal |first1=Blaise |title=The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal |date=1904 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Company |page=100}}</ref> Pascal claims that atheists [[straw man]] Christianity. He writes, "If this religion boasted of having a clear view of God, and of possessing it open and unveiled, it would be attacking it to say that we see nothing in the world which shows it with this clearness. [...] On the contrary, it says that men are in darkness and estranged from God, that He has hidden Himself from their knowledge". Hence the atheists' arguments are not criticisms of Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religion, Politics and Law Philosophical Reflections on the Sources of Normative Order in Society |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |page=239}}</ref> For Pascal, Christianity says God is found only by those "who seek Him with all their heart"; but atheists do not do this and their arguments are not related to this process.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hammond |editor1-first=Nicholas |title=The Cambridge Companion to Pascal |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=116}}</ref>

Pascal writes that "Scepticism is true; for, after all, men before Jesus Christ did not know where they were, nor whether they were great or small. And those who have said the one or the other, knew nothing about it, and guessed without reason and by chance. They also erred always in excluding the one or the other."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pascal |first1=Blaise |title=Pensees |date=2003 |publisher=Dover Publications |page=119}}</ref> He considers truth to be arrived at "not only by the reason, but also by the heart, and it is in this last way that we know first principles; and reason, which has no part in it, tries in vain to impugn them". Sceptics then who only engage by means of reason "labour to no purpose".<ref>{{cite book |title=A Global Church History The Great Tradition Through Cultures, Continents and Centuries |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=679}}</ref>

==Publication history==
The {{lang|fr|Pensées}} is the name given posthumously to fragments that Pascal had been preparing for an [[Christian apologetics|apology]] for Christianity, which was never completed. That envisioned work is often referred to as the ''Apology for the Christian Religion'', although Pascal never used that title.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Alban John|last=Krailsheimer|author-link=d:Q18526350|chapter=Introduction|title=Pensées|year=1995|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0140446451|page=xviii}}</ref>

Although the {{lang|fr|Pensées}} appears to consist of ideas and jottings, some of which are incomplete, it is believed that Pascal had, prior to his death in 1662, already planned out the order of the book and had begun the task of cutting and pasting his draft notes into a coherent form. His task incomplete, subsequent editors have heavily disagreed on the order, if any, in which his writings should be read.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal/ Blaise Pascal], ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (accessed 2010-03-11)</ref> Those responsible for his effects, failing to recognize the basic structure of the work, handed them over to be edited, and they were published in 1670.{{sfn|Krailsheimer|1995|p=x}} The first English translation was made in 1688 by John Walker.<ref>[[Lorraine Daston|Daston, Lorraine]]. ''Classical Probability in the Enlightenment''. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988.</ref> Another English translation by W. F. Trotter was published in 1931 with an introduction by [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref>{{Gutenberg book|no=18269|name=Pascal's Pensées, with an introduction by T. S. Eliot|year=1958|orig-year=1931|publisher=E. P. Dutton|location=New York|bullet=none}}</ref>

Several attempts have been made to arrange the notes systematically; notable editions include those of [[Léon Brunschvicg]], [[Jacques Chevalier]], {{ill|Louis Lafuma|fr}} and (more recently) [[Philippe Sellier]]. Although Brunschvicg tried to classify the posthumous fragments according to themes, recent research has prompted Sellier to choose entirely different classifications, as Pascal often examined the same event or example through many different lenses. Also noteworthy is the monumental edition of Pascal's ''Œuvres complètes'' (1964–1992), which is known as the Tercentenary Edition and was realized by {{ill|Jean Mesnard|fr}};<ref>{{Cite book|title="Rien ne nous plaît que le combat": la campagne des Provinciales de Pascal|volume=1|first=Olivier|last=Jouslin|author-link=d:Q103140167|publisher=[[Blaise Pascal University]] Press|year=2007|page=781}}</ref> although still incomplete, this edition reviews the dating, history and critical bibliography of each of Pascal's texts.<ref>See in particular various works by {{ill|Laurent Thirouin|fr}}, for example "Les premières liasses des Pensées : architecture et signification", ''{{ill|XVIIe siècle|fr|XVIIe Siècle (revue)}}'', no. 177 (special Pascal), October–December 1992, pp. 451–468, or "Le cycle du divertissement, dans les liasses classées", ''Giornata di Studi Francesi'', "Les Pensées de Pascal : du dessein à l’édition", Rome, [[Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta]], 11–12 October 2002.</ref>

The [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]] forbid its printing or reading, as it conflicts with the orthodoxy of the [[Catholic Church]].{{efn|1=[https://beta.nb.no/extrip/beacon/result?query=blaise&country=8052&mode=all&pagesize=50 Beacon for Freedom of Expression search for Pascal]}}

==Reception and legacy==
German philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]] was influenced by Pascal's ''Pensées''. During the 1920s Heidegger kept photograph of Pascal's [[death mask]] in his study room.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Panella |first1=Luigi |title=Understanding Existence. Heidegger Reader of Pascal |journal=[[Studia Heideggeriana]] |date=2024 |volume=XIII |pages=29-38 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/PANUEH}}</ref> Pascal is mentioned in the introduction (and quoted in two footnotes) of his 1927 work ''[[Being and Time]]''.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Rand |editor1-first=Richard |title=Of Jacques Derrida |date=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=243}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philipse |first1=Herman |title=Heidegger's Philosophy of Being A Critical Interpretation |date=2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=224}}</ref> In recent times scholars have noted parallels between Heidegger and ''Pensées'', while postulating various instances of influence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steiner |first1=George |title=Martin Heidegger With a New Introduction |date=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=74}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wrathall |first1=Mark A. |title=The Revealed Word and World Disclosure: Heidegger and Pascal on the Phenomenology of Religious Faith |journal=Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology |date=2006 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=75-88 |doi=10.1080/00071773.2006.11006564 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00071773.2006.11006564}}</ref>

[[Phenomenology (philosophy)|Phenomenological]] [[value theory|value theorists]], particularly [[Max Scheler]], have been influenced by the book.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clemons |first1=Matthew |title=Pascal’s “Order of the Heart” in Phenomenological Value-Theory |journal=Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia |date=2023 |volume=79 |issue=4 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27312062}}</ref>

[[Jean Paul Sartre]] read ''Pensées'' as a youth and his own publications and notebooks reflect the influence of the ''Pensées''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kirkpatrick |first1=Kate |title=Sartre on Sin: Between Being and Nothingness |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=40-42}}</ref>

[[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s relationship to Pascal and the ''Pensées'' was ambivalent. He thought Pascal "the most instructive victim of Christianity" and expressed his "love" of him "since he has enlightened me infinitely: the only logical Christian". Although as an anti-Christian Nietzsche was highly critical of the Christian parts of the ''Pensées'', he did find his psychological and social observations astute.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Brendan Donnellan |author1-link=IX. “The Only Logical Christian”: Nietzsche’s Critique of Pascal |title=Studies in Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition |date=1985 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |pages=161-176 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469656557_oflaherty.12}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Provincial Letters]]

==Editions==
* {{cite book|last1=Pascal|first1=Blaise|last2=Nicole|first2=Pierre|author-link2=Pierre Nicole|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924098822244|title=Pensées de Pascal|language=French|via=[[Internet Archive]]|year=1877|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210616100133/https://archive.org/stream/cu31924098822244/cu31924098822244_djvu.txt|archive-date=June 16, 2021|url-status=live|author1-mask=and|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|first1=Blaise|last1=Pascal|translator-first1=Gertrude|translator-last1=Burford Rawlings|url=https://archive.org/details/pascalspenseesor00pasc/page/6/mode/2up|title=Pascal's Pensées; or, Thoughts on Religion|year=1900|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210616101618/https://archive.org/stream/pascalspenseesor00pasc/pascalspenseesor00pasc_djvu.txt|archive-date=June 16, 2021|url-status=live|author-mask=0|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|first1=Blaise|last1=Pascal|translator-first1=William Finlayson|translator-last1=Trotter|translator-first2=Thomas |translator-last2=M'Crie |translator-link2=Thomas M'Crie the Younger|url=https://archive.org/details/penseestheprovin013046mbp/page/n7/mode/2up|title=Pensées / The Provincial Letters|year=1941|publisher=[[Modern Library]]|location=New York|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210616101442/https://archive.org/stream/penseestheprovin013046mbp/penseestheprovin013046mbp_djvu.txt|archive-date=June 16, 2021|url-status=live|author-mask=0|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|first1=Blaise|last1=Pascal|url=https://archive.org/details/pensesdeblaisep01pascgoog/page/n18/mode/2up|first2=Léon|last2=Brunschvicg|author-link2=Léon Brunschvicg|title=Pensées|location=Paris|publisher=Librairie Hachette|year=1904|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210616100433/https://archive.org/stream/pensesdeblaisep01pascgoog/pensesdeblaisep01pascgoog_djvu.txt|archive-date=June 16, 2021|url-status=live|author1-mask=and|ref=none}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|Pensées|''Pensées''}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.ub.uni-freiburg.de/referate/04/pascal/pensees.pdf|title= ''Pensées'' |language=French|website=University of Fribourg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040124022914/http://www.ub.uni-freiburg.de/referate/04/pascal/pensees.pdf|archive-date=January 24, 2004|url-status=live}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.html |title=Etext version of the ''Pensées''|website=[[CCEL]]}}
*{{librivox book | title=Pensées| author=Pascal}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/arts/lit/Pascal/Pensees_1671_ancien.pdf|title= 1671 edition with old French spelling}}
*[https://archive.org/details/pensees_0906_dx_librivox1 Audiobook in English at Archive.org]
* {{Gutenberg | no=18269 | name=Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal  }}

{{Blaise Pascal}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pensees}}
[[Category:1670 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1670 in Christianity]]
[[Category:1670 in France]]
[[Category:17th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:French non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Unfinished books]]
[[Category:Works by Blaise Pascal]]
[[Category:Philosophy of religion literature]]
[[Category:Criticism of atheism]]
[[Category:Modern philosophical literature]]
[[Category:Christian apologetic works]]
[[Category:Books published posthumously]]
[[Category:Censored books]]