Introduction

The Pensees (or 'Thoughts') is a collection of writings by Blaise Pascal, one of the great philosophers and mathematicians of the seventeenth century. Pascal was an ardent believer in the Christian religion.

Purpose and Composition

The Pensees was intended as a defense of Christianity, but Pascal died before the book could be fully edited and published. Thus, the Pensees is a series of fragments.

Pascal's Character and Approach

Pascal was notoriously ascetic, often taking extreme positions on how Christianity required Christians to wholly repudiate the world. Pascal was not a professionally trained theologian or a systematic philosopher; despite his genius, the book, even if arranged correctly, was not intended as a grand treatise.