I Pensieri di Pascal e unopera priva di una scrittura sistematica, anzi lautore volutamente ed esplicitamente si prende gioco in essa della pretesa razionalizzante e sistematizzante della filosofia, consiste infatti di frammenti e appunti sparsi, ritrovati dopo la morte di Pascal nel 1662, che avrebbero dovuto confluire in unapologia del cristianesimo e che comprendono spunti e riflessioni per altri suoi scritti.Il volume riporta una selezione scelta dei pensieri riguardanti tematiche per lo piu morali e religiose.
É impossível definir em poucas palavras a filosofia de Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), porque ela ultrapassa em muito a reflexão apologética a que, frequentemente, tende a ser reduzida. Pascal foi um home
il est peu de livres qui, autant que les provinciales, montrent à quel point le génie de l'écriture survit à la matière confuse et périssable dont est faite l'histoire des idées. les querelles entre jésuites et jansénistes nous paraissent d'un autre âge et on ne s'intéresse plus guère au problème de la grâce et de la prédestination. mais il y a dans les provinciales tant de talent, d'humour, d'allégresse polémique, une si rafraîchissante et moliéresque verve comique qu'elles nous redent à nouveau contemporains de ce qui fut le grand débat intellectuel et moral du milieu du xviie siècles. comme l'écrit michel le guern, auteur de l'édition des pensées parue dans cette même collection, "la lucidité avec laquelle pascal arrive à démonter le mécanisme de disciplines hautement techniques jointe à l'art le plus achevé de faire partager ses convictions au lecteur, fait de lui, incontestablement, le premier des grands journalistes. "
Écrits sur la grâceDiscours sur les passions de l''amour Les Écrits sur la grâce constituent l''une des clefs de l''oeuvre de Pascal, et l''exposé le plus clair de la position des jansénistes, condam
Pascal representa una extraña paradoja: es uno de los más geniales espíritus científicos de su tiempo, sin embargo puso toda su inteligencia y su arte de convencer al servicio de la fe. El «Discurso
The following translation of the Provincial Letters was undertaken several years ago, in compliance with the suggestion of a revered parent, chiefly as a literary recreation in a retired country charge, and, after being finished, was laid aside. It is now published at the request of friends, who considered such a work as peculiarly seasonable, and more likely to be acceptable at the present crisis, when general attention has been again directed to the popish controversy, and when such strenuous exertions are being made by the Jesuits to regain influence in our country.None are strangers to the fame of the Provincials, and few literary persons would choose to confess themselves altogether ignorant of a work which has acquired a world-wide reputation. Yet there is reason to suspect that few books of the same acknowledged merit have had a more limited circle of bona fide English readers. This may be ascribed, in a great measure, to the want of a good English translation. Two translations of the Provincials have already appeared in our language. The first was contemporary with the Letters themselves, and was printed at London in 1657, under the title of Les Provinciales; or, The Mysterie of Jesuitism, discovered in certain Letters, written upon occasion of the present differences at Sorbonne, between the Jansenists and the Molinists, from January 1656 to March 1657, S. N. Displaying the corrupt Maximes and Politicks of that Society. Faithfully rendered into English. Sicut Serpentes. Of the translation under this unpromising title, it may only be remarked, that it is probably one of the worst specimens of rendering into English to be met with, even during that age when little attention was paid to the art of translation. Under its uncouth phraseology, not only are the wit and spirit of the original completely shrouded, but the meaning is so disguised that the work is almost as unintelligible as it is uninteresting.
Los Pensamientos de Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) no es un libro póstumo sino, en feliz expresión del mejor y más reciente analista de la obra pascaliana, Michel Le Guern, «los papeles de un muerto», la
