Pascal

Robert J. Nelson

Published by Harvard University Press 1981

Pascal

Adversary and Advocate

Robert J. Nelson

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674182912

Overview
Contents

About this book

The life of the paradoxical seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician is examined here along three axes--psychological, theological, and linguistic--to present the first rounded portrayal of the querulous, intense, ever-committed Pascal. In drawing this portrait, the author restores Pascal to the general reader after twenty years of scholarship that has embroiled this historic thinker in academic quarrels.

Robert Nelson confronts the contradictions in Pascal's life and personality: intensely religious according to the demands of his time, yet simultaneously committed to rigorous scientific inquiry, no matter where it led; fascinated by rebellion, yet deeply dependent on the authority of father, spiritual adviser, church, and science. Mr. Nelson sees the resolution of these personal dilemmas in Pascal's growing interest in language--the essential relation between word and object, signifier and signified, which form a style of "Pascalian linguistics" different from those of Descartes or Port Royal.

Through the scrutiny of Pascal's biography and analysis of the entire body of his writing, Nelson reveals Pascal the man, the scientist, the theologian, and the literary genius.

Author information

Nelson Robert J. :

Robert J. Nelson is Professor of Comparative Literature and French at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Reviews

The book lives up to very high standards of scholarship. It is written with the passion and commitment that the subject demands, and addresses genuine questions.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	v
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. The Adversary
1. ADVERSARIAL BELIEVER, ADVERSARIAL MAN OF SCIENCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. THE ADVERSARIAL BELIEVER AND HIS FAMILY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
3. THE ADVERSARIAL BELIEVER AND THE WORLD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
P A R T II. Transition
4.THE CONVERT1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
5. THE CONVERT'S AGONY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
6. THE CONVERT AS PRIVATE ADVERSARY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
7. THE CONVERT AS PUBLIC ADVERSARY: PROVINCIAL LETTERS 1-16 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
PART III. The Advocate
8. THE FINAL PROVINCIAL LETTERS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
9. THE LETTERS TO THE ROANNEZ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
10. THE THOUGHTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
CONCLUSION: ADVERSARY AND ADVOCATE IN THE FINAL WRITINGS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Edition: Reprint 2014
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 286
Keywords: Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662.; RELIGION / General; PHILOSOPHY / General

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674182912

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 1981
ISBN: 9780674182905