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Η αθλιότητα του ανθρώπου και άλλες σκέψεις

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111 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2009

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About the author

Blaise Pascal

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Early work of Blaise Pascal of France included the invention of the adding machine and syringe and the co-development with Pierre de Fermat of the mathematical theory of probability; later, he, a Jansenist, wrote on philosophy and theology, notably as collected in the posthumous Pensées (1670).

This contemporary of René Descartes attained ten years of age in 1633, when people forced Galileo Galilei to recant his belief that Earth circled the Sun. He lived in Paris at the same time, when Thomas Hobbes in 1640 published his famous Leviathan (1651). Together, Pascal created the calculus.

A near-fatal carriage accident in November 1654 persuaded him to turn his intellect finally toward religion. The story goes that on the proverbial dark and stormy night, while Pascal rode in a carriage across a bridge in a suburb of Paris, a fright caused the horses to bolt, sending them over the edge. The carriage, bearing Pascal, survived. Pascal took the incident as a sign and devoted. At this time, he began a series, called the Provincial Letters , against the Jesuits in 1657.

Pascal perhaps most famously wagered not as clearly in his language as this summary: "If Jesus does not exist, the non Christian loses little by believing in him and gains little by not believing. If Jesus does exist, the non Christian gains eternal life by believing and loses an infinite good by not believing.”

Sick throughout life, Pascal died in Paris from a combination of tuberculosis and stomach cancer at 39 years of age. At the last, he confessed Catholicism.

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1,231 reviews31 followers
September 23, 2019
[...]Διότι επιτέλους τι είναι ο άνθρωπος μέσα στη φύση; Ένα μηδενικό απέναντι στο άπειρο, ένα όλο απέναντι στο μηδέν, ένα μεσοδιάστημα μεταξύ του παντός και του τίποτα. Απείρως απομεμακρυσμένος από την κατανόηση των άκρων -ο σκοπός των πραγμάτων και ο κανών τους παραμένουν γι' αυτόν απροσπέλαστα μέσα σ' ένα αδιαπέραστο μυστικό- κι εξίσου ανήμπορος να δει το μηδέν απ' όπου προήλθε όσο και το άπειρο, όπου είναι βυθισμένος.

- ...[οι ευεργεσίες είναι καλοδεχούμενες ως το σημείο που φαίνονται ανταποδόσιμες- όταν υπερβαίνουν τα όρια, αντί για ευγνωμοσύνη, προκαλουν μίσος]...

- Αφού, λοιπόν, όλα τα πράγματα είναι αίτια και αιτιατά, βοηθούμενα και βοηθητικά, έμμεσα και άμεσα, και όλα συγκρατούνται με ένα φυσικό και ανεπαίσθητο δεσμό που ενώνει τα πιο απομακρυσμένα και τα πιο διαφορετικά, θεωρώ αδύνατο να γνωρίσουμε τα μέρη χωρίς να γνωρίζουμε το όλο, όπως επίσης να γνωρίσουμε το όλο χωρίς να γνωρίζουμε καθένα από τα μέρη. [...]
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