Pensées

“Concupiscence” comes from the Latin for “to desire strongly”; in theology, it refers to the human tendency to sin, resulting from the Fall. Blaise Pascal sees concupiscence as affecting mankind in many observable ways, resulting in contradictory and deceptive human behavior.

“Existentialism” refers to a school or branch of philosophy stressing the individual’s position as a self-determining agent responsible for his or her own choices. Although most often associated with non-religious philosophers of the 20th century who stressed the lack of an inherent meaning in life, aspects of this philosophical approach have also been attributed to earlier thinkers, including Pascal. The focus on the individual’s inner life and on humanity’s basic moral and spiritual condition in the Pensées are among its elements that could be considered related to existentialism.

The Fall of Man, or simply “the Fall,” is a Christian doctrine that states humankind at the beginning of creation experienced a loss of moral innocence and divine grace due to sin. Closely connected with the doctrine of Original Sin (See: Original Sin), theologians often disagreed on the degree and manner in which human nature was affected by the Fall, a debate reflected in the Pensées.

In the sense used by Pascal, a figure is a symbol or type—more specifically, a person or event recorded in the Old Testament that is held by Christianity to prefigure a person or event in the New Testament. Much of the theological and scriptural discussion in the Pensées, such as the middle subsections of Section 2, deals with the figurative meanings that various Old Testament events and prophecies have for Christianity and how their fulfillment proves the truth of Christianity.

In Christian theology, “grace” is the freely given favor or love of God. Pascal sees grace as necessary for human life and as a complement to man’s natural faculties, such as reason.

“Heresy” refers to practices or beliefs that conflict with, or challenge, the dogmas of a dominant church. In the Pensées, Pascal presents himself as a religious apologist for orthodox Roman Catholic Christianity who desires to engage with and argue against heretical views.

Pascal contrasts reason with intuition as ways of interpreting reality (Section 2: XXI–XXII). The intuitive mind is one that can grasp truths directly, independently of any reasoning process. The contrast reflects philosophical debates during the 17th century about the role of reason in human knowledge (See: Background).

A “miracle” refers to an event that appears to be supernatural, defying all the usual laws of nature and human reason. Miraculous events are central to Christianity, and Pascal sees the belief in miracles as essential to the religion and individual miracles as proofs of the religion’s truth.

In Christian doctrine, “original sin” refers to humankind’s first sin at the beginning of creation, which was inherited by the human race as a whole. Original sin is associated in the Bible with the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The doctrines of the Fall and of original sin underlie Pascal’s discussions of morality and human nature: He considers the idea of original sin to be a doctrine that challenges reason, yet at the same time the only plausible explanation of mankind’s condition.