Biography

     Blaise Pascal was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist born on June 19, 1623 in Clermont, France. He died in Paris on August 19, 1662 at the age of 39, and most of his life was spent in sickness. Pascal wrote on many subjects, ranging from the probabilities in gambling to religion. Pascal's only formal education came from his father, who was a mathematician. One of his major mathematical accomplishments was his invention of the Pascaline, or the first calculator. Pascal was first introduced to the religion of Jansenism in 1646 when two brothers, who were Jansenists, came to live with his family to care for his father’s injured leg. Pascal became an advocate and defender of Jansenism. One night in 1654, referred to as the “Night of Fire,” Pascal had an intense experience of revelation that turned his interests away from mathematics and science and more towards philosophy, specifically religion. He wrote down a record of his experience and sewed it into his jacket, where it remained until his death. Following this experience and his newfound devotion to religion, Pascal wrote The Provincial Letters in 1656. These were open letters in defense of Jansenism and Antoine Arnauld, a professor who was at risk of censorship for his Jansenist beliefs. Pensées is often considered Pascal’s most notable work, and it was published posthumously. This was a collection of fragmented notes written by Pascal, outlining his defense of Christianity as well as featuring the well-known “Pascal’s Wager.” Pascal’s wager was a result of his view that reason cannot be used to prove God’s existence, so therefore one must wager about it instead. The wager proposes that it is foolish not to bet on God’s existence because you will gain a lot if he is real and you believe in him, and lose only a little if he is not real and you believe in him. On the other hand, if you do not bet on his existence you risk a huge loss if he is real, but only get a small gain if he is not real. The wager was not Pascal’s way of turning non-believers into believers, as he also believed the belief in God is a god-given gift, but instead his appeal to get non-believers to want to believe, and thus act in accordance with God. 

     In regards to human nature, Pascal believed that Adam’s mistake corrupted human nature and it can never be improved with human effort, only with God’s help. Humans must fully believe God, even if we do not understand him, so it is pointless to try to rationalize faith and religion. Pascal was a dedicated Catholic and believed all other religions are false. Consistent with his image of an all-powerful god, Pascal believed that God played a role in the free will of humans. Pascal was not as concerned with the mundane, day-to-day decisions as he was with larger moral issues. He thought that humans do have free will, and the mundane decisions that humans make reflect their true desires. To Pascal, human desires are always bad, even if we think they are good. Moral issues are where God intervenes. While it is true that one’s desires are according to their own will,  God predetermines who will have the desire to reach salvation. According to Pascal, this is how God intervenes in human affairs while maintaining human free will. Pascal believes there is a natural law, or God’s law, that people must live by. We do have moral obligations and the intention of an action is not relevant, only the outcome. Pascal can be considered an existentialist in some ways. He does not think any single human can be above human life, as human lives are small compared to the larger picture. As mentioned above, he does believe that humans enter the world with a predetermined nature but do have some free will in regards to their destiny. Overall Pascal firmly believes that we need God to exist, as he creates us and saves us from ourselves.