Similarities Between Pascal And Descartes

‘Dynamism’ is the medieval view that God is the driving, animating force within all matter. However in the modern day, dynamism is an almost nonexistent view of God and the world. Religion and the soul are now matters of faith and faith only, not the matters of reality. This view of Christianity was built upon a major progression in human thinking - individualism. For a good part of human history (especially the medieval times), people counted on authority and tradition to decide their beliefs, views, and morals; Religion being a hugely-focused on truth in society. Pascal and Descartes were two early philosophers to question this. Pascal fully understood the uncertainty of God in reality; how science cannot prove or disprove a God, therefore

Someone may ask “If I don’t know for certain if God exists or not, why should I act a certain way and lose earthly pleasures?” Pascal thinks that this is not irrational. He says this because we do it all the time; he looks at lotteries, life insurance, and education - in all of these cases, a (relatively) small amount of something is given away in the hope of getting back a better, much (relatively) larger thing in the future. This point is especially credible because heaven - to every human being - is a possible infinite gain. He believes that if it’s reasonable to plan for the near future, how is it not reasonable to plan for the distant future - in other terms after death. We all are guaranteed to fall into Death’s grasp, and we all must act for or against God’s existence. Pascal believes that the intelligent choice is the belief of God - we all have the ability to acquire the possible infinite gain of heaven, with only the small but difficult sacrifice of some things in life. Descartes’ writings also talk about the belief in God. Descartes states that there are generally no undeniable beliefs or propositions, and that the existence and nature of the external world cannot be fully known or understood. Pascal believed in heaven as possible infinite gain, however Descartes believed that the nature and existence of an external world as something that cannot be fully known or understood. Pascal also believed that the belief in God as the only reasonable choice, when Descartes believed that God should always be held true. Their beliefs still back up this objection though. If nothing is known about the external world, or the external world is infinite gain, there is still no absolute certainty in which side of the wager to choose, therefore betting on God as true is still the most reasonable