Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Pascal with pages of his pensées below to his right by Augustin Pajou (1730-1809).

The biographical essay that accompanies this month's selection from Pascal's Pensées in Great Conversations I concludes, "Of lasting interest [is] ... his challenge to those who think that studied skepticism is a worthy substitute for a vigorous lifelong pursuit of truth."

Chief among "those" who thought this was Montaigne, two of whose essays we discussed last month. The philosophical school of skepticism, which dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Pyrrho, suspends judgement on all belief.  In Montaigne's case, skepticism was accompanied by a light-hearted attitude towards life. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to worry too much about "deep" questions.

Pascal was quite a different type of philosopher, although in the context of the history of French letters, Pascal's beliefs were formed in a Montaignian crucible. As Sarah Bakewell has written in her fine How to Live or a Life of Montaigne, "If La Boétie hovered over Montaigne's page as his invisible friend, Montaigne hovered over Pascal's writings as his ever-present enemy and co-author."

Pascal, an accomplished scientist and mathematician, employs rigorous logic to crush doubt. He was devoutly Catholic, and the Pensées were written as fragmentary drafts for a larger defense of his faith. Pascal's untimely death prevented him from writing that work, and the Pensées stands as one of the great unintended classics of all time.