Customer Reviews

Pensï¿1/2es and Other Writings (The World's Classics)

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This Oxford's version of the Pensees is in some ways superior to the Penguin Classics version. The introduction, by Anthony Levi, gives a much better insight into the history behind the development of Pascal's 'thoughts'. As far as the biography is concerned, Oxford's version gives a much broader span of time concerning Blaise's life.

A lot of people blame Pascal for not being like Montaigne, but that is just foolish. I enjoy Pascal's style because of its originality, and there also seems to me to be a similiar style between both men--espcially in how they both change ideas in a brief span of time. I believe Montainge originally meant to make his 'essays' a collection of expanded sayings and maxims but it took another form, and Pascal maybe wanted his 'pensees' to be his magnum opus by turning it into a large book that would be something like Montaign's Essays. Both men, I guess, envisioned something different from their final product and both of them left a legacy that was fruitful and informative, and their works shouldn't be compared as two competing styles since they are so different from one another in both format and intention.

And after reading Pascal's 'Discussion with Monsieur de Sacy', I was struck by Pascal's shear brilliance. He is a giant of a writer and is one of the cleanest writers I have ever read.

Pascal's Pensees are among the more interesting and enlightened of Christian writings. Pascal was a brilliant 17th century mathematician and scientist who tabulated binomial coefficients, provided groundwork in the field of hydrodynamics and also invented the syringe. But for some reason he seems to be known best for his "Pensees" (thoughts). These Pensees are deeply religious but like Pascal's Wager (the argument that it makes sense to believe in god even if it can't be proven scientifically) they are also extraordinarily logical. And this is the crux of the enigma that is Blaise Pascal: how could a man of such brilliant reason also have such unshakeable faith? The answer is to some degree in the Pensees but at the same it is also something so sublime that it touches the realm of existentialism. Regardless, the Pensees are really thoughtful writings not all of which confront the existence of God. The also provide interesting insight into the intellect of the early age of reason.

Many compare Pascal to Montaigne and though I agree that they came from the same stock they certainly fall into different camps. Montaigne was an intellectual bon vivant and if one reads his "Essays" it is easy to see that his value in reason and science is not nearly as complete as that of Pascal. I really enjoy Montaigne and find myself thinking more like he did than Pascal. My belief is that their style of straightforward easy eloquence is similar due to the fact that they were both French intellectuals but the comparison should end there. The Pensees are great and I don't think they were meant to be read with any speed. Buying a copy is a great investment because it provides a series of aphorisms and thoughts for a lifetime of contemplation.

- Ted Murena

This is one of the great works of Western religious thought. It is written in fragments, but these fragments are often brilliant poetic thoughts . Many of them have become part of the everyday vocabulary of the Western mind. " Man is a reed, but he is a thinking reed" " The silence of these infinite spaces cast me into dread"

Among the major suggestions of Pascal's thought is the Pascalian wager which William James picked upon. Roughly speaking betting on the non- existence of G-d gives nothing. But betting on the existence of G-d give the possibility of eternity. Therefore says Pascal we should be wise and bet on the existence of God. And this though it is not certain that God wants us as gamblers.

Pascal's insights also extend into his reading of the Bible and his special insight into the destiny of Israel. His God after all is not " the god of the philosophers but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob " Pascal saw the continued survival the miraculous survival of the people of Israel through generations of persecution and suffering as a proof of the existence of G-d. And for that alone I have tremendously warm feelings for him.And this aside from the gratitude of his overwhelmingly powerful and beautiful insights.

This is one of the great books for probing the heart of Man and the Universe. And we should never stop rereading it.

Seldom does a week go by that one of Pascal's musings doesn't come to my mind. Most often, I think, his comment that he believes that all man's misery is due to either laziness or impatience ("....not being able to sit quietly in a room alone"). I've seen that played out so many times, and it's my favorite lecture to my grandchildren.

As another reviewer has said, Pascal's most provocative reflections are on the miraculous survival of the nation of Israel and what that tells us about the divine authorship of the Bible. This was especially surprising and gratifying to me in light of his times and religious affiliation.

Most amusing is his fascination with the male fixation on games involving balls. He turns that one over and over and never quite figures it out.

I always find it restful to pick up this tiny, sweet-tempered book--so huge in its enduring wisdom--and read a few pages. It always gives me something more worthwhile and just plain fun to think about than politics and my irritating next-door neighbor.

This is philosophy, Christian mysticism and theology at their best. This is the man who, after recognizing the God of Christianity, completely abandoned his career as a celebrated and brilliant physicist and devoted his entire life to Christ. He was persecuted by the Jesuits and the great part of the entire Catholic Church, but he persevered and remained in faith - not as a dreaming and hallucinating "spiritualist", as it is the habit today, but as a true Christian who could not find the true church in his nation - much like John Brown or Henry David Thoreau did this centuries later.

I had checked this book out from the local library having read some excerpts included in a college magazine. I have not been disappointed. Pascal has amazing insight and perspective into humanity. This book is for the "thinker."

Richard Feynman & Blaise Pascal are two scientists whose personalities fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. While Feynman was a happy-go-lucky prankster with a love of life & a wonderful sense of humor, Pascal was a deeply troubled individual, and perhaps even psychotically depressed. One could not get a bigger contrast between the two than to juxtapose this book with Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character).

This book is basically the memoirs of the mathematician. As such, it is presented in a similar way as The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Oxford World's Classics), Confessions of St. Augustine, The: Modern English Version and The Will to Power. However, I found the Pensees and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics) to be the least "readable" of these 4 works. Its pessimism is all fine & well, but it's so relentless that it becomes a bit dull after awhile. To illustrate this, one of my favorite lines is "So it is wretched to know one is wretched, but there is greatness in the knowledge of one's wretchedness" (p. 37). Huh?

The book contains the most famous quotes of Pascal, including "Justice without strength is powerless. Strength without justice is tyrannical" (p. 34) and "The heart has its reasons which reason itself does not know: we know that through countless things." (p. 158) Of course, the latter part of the 2nd phrase is usually omitted when the quotation is invoked.

Unlike The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas (Five Volumes) by Thomas Aquinas and other examples of Christian apologetics, the present work is lacking in offering any "proofs" of God's existence. Rather, it is centered on the anxiety of a morose infatuation with death. Rather than proofs, Pascal continually insists on the approach of "You better believe in God, or else you'll be sorry!" People who are debating whether or not God exists are not likely to get a whole lot out of this book which will sway them one way or the other.

Obviously, the most famous tenet of Pascal is the wager, and it is discussed at length on pages 152-156. (For an excellent critique of the wager, see Critique of Religion and Philosophy by Walter A. Kaufmann). Ultimately, it's not an argument that's bound to convince (coerce?) too many modern persons to believe in an omnipotent power.

To return to the dichotomy between Feynman & Pascal: it intrigues me a bit that Pascal has always been a name trumpted by Christians as an intellectual who believed in God. I woud wager(!) that less than 1% of the Christians who espouse "Pascal the believer" have ever read this work. IF they knew just how melancholy he was, they might consider examining the effects of religion more closely. Nietzsche is said to have once quipped that (paraphrased) he would never forgive Christianity for what it did to Pascal. For myself, I much prefer the fun-loving outlook that Feynman had on life!

If you like morose works and you're a fan of books such as Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Cli (Penguin Classics) by Soren Kierkegaard, then by all means this book is for you. Just beware that it's incredibly dry reading. I would recommend that you listen to the 4th movement of Mahler's 9th symphony while reading Pascal; both men had a trepidation about death, and you will be able to experience the expressions of dread that the musician & mathematician had in a nexus of somber tranquility.

Length:: 0:10 Mins

This film may, at first glance, seem a bit off-topic, if not offensive. Let me assure you, repeated viewings will confirm your suspicions that Pensees (thoughts) has everything to do with it. Confused? Ask questions.

Hard to grasp. A following sentence will contradict the sentence above. Ravings not musings. If read by a believer it is great writing. If read by a stoic it's ragtime.

"In order to love God you must hate yourself." ???