About this ebook
After his death, the first edition was organized by his friends Arnauld and Nicole, and although they were compelled to treat the text with great reverence and fear the Jesuits, who could not tolerate the attack of the Provinciales, induced them to make some flattening corrections that were not offensive. This collection was first published in 1678. A century later, when Voltaire and the encyclopedists ruled France, the latter published the Pensées according to a skillful arrangement by Condorcet and accompanied them with frivolous annotations. This edition here contains Voltaire's annotations in line with the rest of the text originally published in Les Extraits des Pensées de Pascal. The text is organized topically according to Henreich Hesse's 1844 version. Here, we render his most major work Pensées as "Reflections", not "Thoughts" as it often has been translated into English.
This is more subject, showing the introspective nature of the text. "Thoughts" does not do justice to the meditative nature of the text, and "Meditations" reminds one of that Stoic philosopher a bit too much. The aim here is to be accurate and true to the text but always in relationship to the philosophical milieu of the modern reader. First published posthumously in 1670, the Pensées, though an unfinished work, is one of the most influential and deep work in both Christian apologetics and philosophy.
