The Life of Blaise Pascal

Written with affection and understanding, the work shows both Pascal's human frailties and his extraordinary intellect and faith, portraying him as a difficult figure who balanced rigorous scientific inquiry with devout Christian mysticism. This biography is essential for understanding Pascal's personal and spiritual development, as well as the family setting that shaped much of his thought and work. This new Reader's Edition contains a new Afterword by the translator on Pascal's personal relationship with Descartes and his intellectual objections to the new Cartesian rationality which at base changed the course of both Science and Philosophy, a short biography on Pascal's life and impact.

This is followed by a timeline of his life and relationships, an index of his core Philosophic terminology, a chronological list and summary of all of his published and posthumous works, and the text of Pascal's Memorial, a poetic, fragmented account of his divine vision in 1654. This volume introduces the reader to Pascal's metaphysical works and brings to life Pascal's witness of the dawn of a new Scientific age. This is volume 6 of the 7 part Complete Works of Pascal. This volume covers Pascal's early work in mathematics, science, and engineering, as well as his Scientific Philosophical commentary on the Enlightenment's Scientific progress. Pascal was far from a systematic theologian or philosopher he was a talented Scientist, Mathematician and respected thinker, but did not make a career of it.