Referências científicas no pensamento religiosos de Blaise Pascal

Abstract

It is a well known fact that a definition of the thematic nature of Pascal's work has given rise to much debate. However controversial the opinions put forward, consensos exists as to one general classification: part of his work, including the physical and mathematical treatises, is to be regarded as scientific, while the other part, concerning matters of Faith, is made up of the writings from his period of religious militancy. Differences of opinion arise when attempts are made to define the specific limits of the works, and the ????esulting questions, conflicting among themselves, are not always easy to reconcile .• Could Pascal have interrupted his scientific activities when he tuned to Jansenism? Might the religious writings be the result of a fanaticism which showed objectivity to have been abandoned? If so, how is it possible to explain in the Pensées- an eminently apologetic work - the presence of scientific models, adopted as techniques of reasoning? How might one reconcile the two Pascalian principies of knowledge - reason and the heart? The intention of this paper is to answer these questions through an interpretation which defends the unity of Pascal's thought, and to show the presence of rationality as a mark of the rigour necessary to an apologia for Christianity.