A Study Of Blaise Pascal’s Thoughts On Man

Blaise Pascal was a famous French mathematician,physicist and philosopher in the 17 th century.As a philosopher,he has made a rich discussion on the problem of human existence in his Pensées and some minor works,formed the unique thoughts on man.From the perspective of philosophy history,Pascal’s thoughts on man had an important influence on Voltaire,K ierkegaard and Nietzsche and so on.In view of the fact that researches on Pascal’s thoughts on man in academic circle still needs to be in-depth,this article attempts to make some research efforts in this regard.This article’s research on Pascal’s anthropology is mainly carried out from two parts:ideological origin and main contents.In the part of origin of Pascal’s thoughts on man,this paper introduces the influence of Epictetus ethics,Augustine’s theory of human nature,relationship between soul and flesh,Montaigne’s skepticism and ethics,Descartes’ theory of the relationship between body and mind and mechanical materialism on Pascal’s thoughts on man.In the part of main contents,this thesis is carried out from three aspects.Firstly,existence and nature of man.The paper argues that human beings are lower than creator God,pure spiritual angel,and higher than animal as “machine” and lifeless material existence in Pascal’s ontological order.Pascal distinguishes the state of human nature before and after the fall,and holds that the state of human nature after the fall has oppositions or duality between“greatness” and “wretchedness”.Secondly,inner peace and freedom of man.The thesis holds that Pascal continues the philosophy of late Greco-Roman philosophy,especially the ethics of Stoicism which regard freedom and happiness as peace of mind and non-disturbance of soul.However,in the path of happiness,but with Pyrrhonism and Stoicism there is an important difference.In Pascal’s opinion,in this life only with the help of grace can one overcome the blindness of reason and the weakness of will,then realize the transformation of passions,and obtain temporary freedom and happiness.Thirdly,the communities of man.The paper argues that Pascal distinguishes between two kinds of communities,namely,the community of self-love and the community of charity.The former is a community of self-love with peace as the supreme good,which has no real justice but only the might that is justified.The latter is a community of diversity in unity based on the supernatural “charity” order that transcends the“body” and “mind” order.In the conclusion this article sorts out the domestic and foreign scholars’ evaluation and positioning of Pascal’s thoughts.This paper holds that Pascal has a strong tendency of Augustinism,but at the same time,there are some contents beyond the limits of Augustinism that are loosely related to existentialism.Therefore,this paper argues that it is more appropriate to regard Pascal as a non-rationalism opposed to the rationalism represented by Descartes.