Blaise Pascal - Collected Works, incl. Pensées (13 books)

* Blaise Pascal - Collected Works, incl. Pensées (13 books)

BLAISE PASCAL (1623–1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, and theologian whose brief life left an indelible mark on both the scientific revolution and Western philosophy. Pascal was a child prodigy who made foundational contributions to hydraulics and geometry before he was out of his teens, even inventing the mechanical calculator known as the Pascaline. His early career was defined by a rigorous dedication to empirical science, leading to groundbreaking work on conic sections, atmospheric pressure, and the mathematical theory of probability.

A profound religious experience in 1654 shifted his primary focus from natural philosophy to religion, prompting him to align with Jansenism, an austere reform movement within the Catholic Church. His two most influential works on philosophy and theology date from this period. His defense of the Jansenists against Jesuit accusations of heresy culminated in the anonymous publication of the PROVINCIAL LETTERS (1656-1657) which used a fictional, naive Parisian narrator to expose what Pascal viewed as Jesuit moral laxity and casuistry. By deploying razor-sharp wit, irony, and brilliant rhetorical prose, Pascal transformed a dense theological dispute into a public sensation. The letters captivated the French public, infuriated King Louis XIV, and permanently damaged the reputation of the Jesuits, while simultaneously establishing a new benchmark for modern French prose style.

Following the success of the Provincial Letters, Pascal dedicated his final years to a comprehensive defense of the Christian religion, which remained unfinished at the time of his death. His fragmentary notes, aphorisms, and essays were collected by his friends and published posthumously in 1670 under the title PENSÉES (Thoughts), now widely considered to be Pascal's masterpiece and a landmark in French prose. Unlike traditional theological treatises, the Pensées approached faith through a psychological and philosophical examination of human nature, famously depicting humanity as a tragic paradox—torn between wretched greatness and absolute misery, trapped between the infinite and nothingness. "All of humanity’s problems," he wrote, "stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone." The real escape route from ennui and despair, he suggested, is to be found in the famous bet on the existence of God.

The most famous fragment within the Pensées is "Pascal’s Wager" , a pioneering application of game theory to the question of God's existence. Pascal argues that because reason cannot definitively prove whether God exists, a rational person should live as though God does, since the potential rewards of eternal salvation are infinite, while the costs of the wager are minimal. Through this pragmatic argument and his deeply personal reflections, Pascal sought to shock indifferent skeptics out of their complacency. Today, the PENSÉES stands as a masterpiece of world literature and a foundational text of Christian apologetics, continuing to challenge readers with its intense psychological depth.

As The Guardian editorialized in July 2023: "In the 20th century, Pascal’s sense of metaphysical jeopardy helped inspire postwar existentialism, becoming a point of reference for Jean-Paul Sartre, among others. In our own age, the spirit of his work might point the way to a new humanism – one that recognises both the remarkable possibilities that scientific reason can offer the world, and the need to safeguard humanity’s place within it. Four centuries after he was born, Pascal is still our intellectual fellow-traveller."


The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as noted:

* Collected Works (Delphi Classics, 2020) – ePUB
* Great Shorter Works of Pascal [tr. Cailliet & Blankenagel] (Westminster, 1948) – PDF
* Human Happiness [tr. Krailsheimer] (Penguin Great Ideas, 2008) – ePUB
* Pensées [ed. Chevalier] (Les Belles Lettres, 2023) – ePUB
* Pensées [ed. Descotes & Escola] (Flammarion, 2015) – ePUB
* Pensées [tr. Ariew] (Hackett, 2004) – PDF^
* Pensées [tr. Krailsheimer] (Penguin, 1995) – ePUB
* Pensées [tr. Stewart] (Pantheon, 1950) – PDF^
* Pensées [tr. Turnell] (Harvill, 1962) – PDF^
* Pensées & Other Writings [tr. Levi] (Oxford, 2008) – PDF^
* Pensées & The Provincial Letters [tr. Trotter & M'Crie] (Modern Library, 1941) – PDF^
* Physical Treatises of Pascal [tr. Spiers & Spiers] (Columbia, 1937) – PDF
* Provincial Letters [tr. Krailsheimer] (Penguin, 1967) – PDF^

PDF^ courtesy of Mohamed5438


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