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Argument On 'Pensées' By Blaise Pascal

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Firstly, Blaise Pascal’s writing, Pensées, is a collection of fragments used to argue his thoughts on the existence of God. A large sum of evidence is taken from his argument about the importance of faith and reason. Pascal’s wager argues that if a person believes in God and He does not exist, then they have lost nothing; but if He does exist they will live eternally. If a person does not believe in God and He does not exist, then they gain nothing, but if He does exist they will live eternally in hell. This statement in Pascal’s words says, “Order. I should be much more frightened of being wrong and finding out that the Christian religion was true than of being wrong in believing it to be true” (fr 6). It is important to point out that Pascal does not come to a final conclusion on the argument for the existence of God, but believes that a wager for cost and benefit will motivate the readers. …show more content…

Pascal characterizes God as being incomprehensible, just, merciful, all good, and the center of life. This was intended for the readers to acknowledge Pascal’s words when he describes that God was such a powerful and infinite being, that we as humans were unable to grasp his nature, and even more unable to describe Him. “We know that there is an infinite, but we do not know its nature; as we know that it is false that numbers are finite, so therefore it is true that there is an infinite number, but we do not know what it is: it is false that it is even and false that it is odd, for by adding a unit it does not change its nature; however it is a number, and all numbers are even or odd (it is true that this applies to all finite numbers)” (152). To reiterate again, if we could describe Him it would mean we understand

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