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Blaise Pascal lived during a time when religion and science were clashing and challenging previous discoveries and ideas. Pascal lived from 1623 to 1662 due to his untimely death at the age of thirty nine. The scientific community grew enormously and Pascal was a great contributor to this growth. The growth in the scientific community is known as the Scientific Revolution. He lived in a time where an absolute monarch came into power, King Louis the XIV. Louis XIV was a believer in “one king, one law, and one faith” (Spielvogel, 2012). Pascal saw the destruction of protestant practices in France and the growth and acceptance of scientific discoveries. He used the scientific method to refine previous experiments that were thought to be logical but Pascal proved otherwise and eventually led to Pascal’s Law. He spent his life devoted to two loves: God and science. Within his book, “Pensees,” Pascal argues and shares his thoughts about God, science, and philosophy.
When looking at Pascal’s arguments that emerge in Pensees; the history, ideas, and people that influenced Pascal must be examined. Many of Pascal’s arguments involve the unity of both religion and science. This can be very controversial at a time where an absolute monarch challenges and tries to destroy other faith practices. Along with introducing scientific ideas others may misinterpret as trying to disprove God’s existence. Pascal was heavily influenced by the Christian church and was a firm believer in God. In fact, Pascal’s discoveries and experiments only solidify his faith even more. Pensees is Pascal’s thoughts on God and some other subjects that tie philosophy and the nature of man.
During the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal lived in a society under the French ...
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...ld. That being said, Pensees is also a book written to a specific audience and not just any average Joe walking about in the streets. Pensees is written in an odd structure that is no longer seen in modern day writing. A lot of it is broken up into sections and sub sections by numbers. Each section pertains to a particular subject and each sub section is his thoughts on that particular subject. The language has been translated from French to English and many inserts have been placed within the text to make it understandable. Each sub section is tied to the main subject; however, the sub sections that are numbered are related but formatted in a way that does not flow. This can be difficult to understand for first time readers. Much of Pensees subjects involve religion and God. Pascal ties philosophy and the nature of man within the bible and how science ties to God.
The book opens with a squad of soldiers running a tactical control point just outside of a village called Yusufiyah. They are approached when a man Abu Muhammad had found his cousins family brutally murdered not too far off. Sgt. Tony Yribe and 3 others went to go investigate it. Although it was a terrible scene Sgt. Yribe had just assumed that it was like most other situations in Iraq in that the family was a victim of Iraqis attacking other Iraqis. The one thing that bothered him was that there was a shotgun shell and Iraqis do not normally use shotguns.
Pascal’s Wager was a major strength of his theory on God and Religion. The argument made in Pascal’s Wager is an example of apologetic philosophy. It was written and published in Pensées by the 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Pascal’s Wager claims that all humans must bet their lives on whether God exists. He argues that rational people should seek to believe in God. If God does not exist the loss is minimal, but if God does exist there is an infinite gain, eternity in Heaven. It was a ground-breaking theory because it utilized probability theory and formal decision theory. Pascal’s Wager is applicable both to atheists and theists. While other philosophies may
In papal Rome in the early 16th century the “Good Book” was the reference book for all scientists. If a theory was supported in its holy pages, or at the very least not contradicted, then the idea had a chance of find acceptance outside the laboratory. Likewise, no theory no matter how well documented could be viewed with anything but disdain if it contradicted with the written word of, or the Church’s official interpretation of scripture. For these reasons the Church suppressed helio-centric thinking to the point of making it a hiss and a byword. However, this did not keep brave men from exploring scientific reason outside the canonical doctrine of the papal throne, sometimes at the risk of losing their own lives. While the Vatican was able to control the universities and even most of the professors, it could not control the mind of one man known to the modern world as Galileo Galilei. Despite a wide array of enemies, Galileo embarked on a quest, it seems almost from the beginning of his academic career, to defend the Copernican idea of a helio-centric universe by challenging the authority of the church in matters of science. Galileo‘s willingness to stand up for what he held to be right in the face of opposition from Bible-driven science advocates set him apart as one of the key players in the movement to separate Church authority from scientific discovery, and consequently paved the way for future scientific achievement.
The main argument which Galileo’s opponents used against his theory was that in many places in the Bible it is mentioned that the Earth stands still and that the Sun revolves around it. Galileo himself was a devout Christian and did not mean to question God’s power or the Holy Writ with his work. As a result, to support his claim, he developed three logical arguments in his letter, which he backed with the opinions of leading Christian authorities, in order to prove that science can reinforce religion rather than discredit it.
Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all human knowledge on firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically the existence of God in Meditation III, and provide an explanation to his radical thoughts. In Meditation III “The existence of God,” Descartes builds his foundation of certainty in the natural light through the examination of God’s existence.
In the history of the Catholic Church, no episode is so contested by so many viewpoints as the condemnation of Galileo. The Galileo case, for many, proves the Church abhors science, refuses to abandon outdated teachings, and is clearly not infallible. For staunch Catholics the episode is often a source of embarrassment and frustration. Either way it is undeniable that Galileo’s life sparked a definite change in scientific thought all across Europe and symbolised the struggle between science and the Catholic Church.
Blaise Pascal was born on 19 June 1623 in Clermont Ferrand. He was a French mathematician, physicists, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher. He was a child prodigy that was educated by his father. After a horrific accident, Pascal’s father was homebound. He and his sister were taken care of by a group called Jansenists and later converted to Jansenism. Later in 1650, the great philosopher decided to abandon his favorite pursuits of study religion. In one of his Pensees he referred to the abandonment as “contemplate the greatness and the misery of man”.
Ben Jonson’s poem, “To Penshurst”, reflects a genre of poetry known as country house poetry. This poetry was written primarily in order to please the owner of the country house. Jonson’s poem was written specifically to praise the Kent estate of Sir Robert Sidney. What makes Jonson’s country house poem different from the other poems of this time period is the content that Jonson wrote about. Johson’s “To Penshurst” appeals to all classes of people whether it be a peasant or a king due to its sheer acceptance and simplicity in nature. This poem could almost be considered a literal gift to Penshurst, much like it is a gift to all social classes. In this poem, Jonson writes in the hopes of praising the Sidney’s estate, Penshurst. The estate resides in the town of Kent, and the scenery is described as being humble much like the manor. What makes this poem intriguing is how it deviates from the country house poetry of the time. During this time in history, the likelihood of peasants intimately interacting with royalty was very unlikely. What Penshurst offers through this work is lower and middle class equality among all classes. Outside of Penshurst, though, the same concept does not apply. This is because Penshurst, in a sense, could be considered a type of utopia. This is primarily because of the welcoming interaction between peasant and royal life. As mentioned earlier, all classes are not equal outside Penshurst. Penshurst is almost like a paradise for those looking for an escape from the harsh social standards of the society of the time. Though, unlike Thomas More’s “Utopia”, there are no negative connotations that the reader can decip...
Although their methods and reasoning contrasted one another, both philosophers methodically argued to come to a solid, irrefutable proof of God, which was a subject of great uncertainty and skepticism. Through Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous and Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes and Berkeley paved the way towards an age of confidence and faith in the truth of God’s perfect existence actively influencing the lives of
... to make you commit injustices.” Voltaire studied natural sciences and reason because he was against supestition. Although he advocated religious tolerance, he believed that any one church should not have absolute power. By the time he was executed, he had already brought about the end of the power and right of the church to torture France. People in France still are not as faithful to the Catholic Church as they had been before Voltaire had introduced them to the idea of “reasoning”.
...wever, in the best interest of advancing education and an enlightened society, science must be pursued outside of the realm of faith and religion. There are obvious faith-based and untestable aspects of religion, but to interfere and cross over into everyday affairs of knowledge should not occur in the informational age. This overbearing aspect of the Church’s influence was put in check with the scientific era, and the Scientific Revolution in a sense established the facet of logic in society, which allows us to not only live more efficiently, but intelligently as well. It should not take away from the faith aspect of religion, but serve to enhance it.
Lindberg's article is very complete because though it points out many other issues that had a role in the lack of scientific popularity, it addresses the fact that the church did not entirely embrace natural science, and in many cases rejected much of what was being studied.
The Middle Ages saw a period in time that was deeply rooted in Christianity. Almost every aspect of life was monitered and ruled by the Church. This period in time also saw the emergence of men beginning to question whether the existence of God can be proved by faith , reason, or as Thomas Aquinas insists, by both faith and reason. There were differing opinions of this matter in both scholarly and religious circles. Faith is what all believers must have within them, it is a crucial part of man’s relationship with God. On the other hand, reason is a part of science and some believed that matters of The Divine should not be subjected to reason; there should not be a justification for God.
Alexader Pope’s A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing is a poem about youthful exuberance and aged wisdom. The poem seems to suggest that a small amount of education is dangerous and that to not deeply drink from the fountain of knowledge will cause intoxication. Lines one through four are a very interesting study. “A little learning is a dangerous thing;/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;/There shallow draughts intoxicate the brian,/And drinking largely sobers us again.” (Pope, 1709) Pope is speaking of the fire that having only a portion of the available information may cause. For example, a person reads an article and gains some information regarding a situation. The person is angry and rages around town about the information
Augustine and Al-Ghazali, two medieval philosophers that have not interacted throughout their lives, both hold arguments on their thought of skepticism. Narrowing down the focus of skepticism to the doubt of self-existence and the certainty of knowledge/mind. This paper will analyze both of their views on why skepticism is important in doubting the absolution of vision, their arguments for and against skepticism, and lastly the focus on skeptical thinking and the purpose it’s meant to achieve. In doing so will present the views of both thinkers in how they views of skepticism is compatible in some aspects and does contrasts, nevertheless both dialogues hold merit in their thinking of why we ought to be skeptical in our senses of vision and in the knowledge/mind.