PhilosophersBlaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.
Augustinianism · Jansenism (Port-Royal)1623 – 1662 FranceBelieverMathematicianCritic of reason aloneMoralist
Le cœur a ses raisons, que la raison ne connaît point
The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.
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Mais c'est un roseau pensant
Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
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Vous êtes embarqué
You are embarked: not choosing is already a choice.
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Le silence éternel de ces espaces infinis m'effraie
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me. An isolated fragment: scholars debate whether Pascal speaks for himself or voices the unbeliever.
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Misconceptions
False
Pascal thought God could be proved by reason.
The opposite: "Reason can decide nothing here." He finds metaphysical proofs of God too remote from human reasoning. The wager does not prove God exists: it is about what is reasonable to choose.
Nuanced
"The heart has its reasons" is about romantic love.
For Pascal the heart is a faculty of knowledge: it grasps first principles and "feels" God. The phrase became a romantic proverb long after him.
Nuanced
The wager is just a self-interested calculation.
The calculation is aimed at the unbeliever who reasons like a gambler. Pascal immediately adds that the discourse is made by a man who prays, and that the path goes through the lessening of the passions.