PASCAIs Pensees is widely considered to be a masterpiece， anda landmark in French prose. When commenting on one particularsection， Sainte-Beuve praised it as the finest pages in the Frenchlanguage.
Will Durant， in his II-volume， comprehensive The
Story of Civilization series， hailed it as the most eloquentbook in French prose.
In Pensees， Pascal surveys several philosophical paradoxes：infinity and nothing， faith and reason， soul and matter， death andlife， meaning and vanity- seemingly arriving at no definitiveconclusions besides humility， ignorance， and grace.
INTRODUCTION
SECTION I THOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE
SECTION II THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD
SECTION III OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER
SECTION IV OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF
SECTION V JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS
SECTION VI THE PHILOSOPHERS
SECTION VII MORALITY AND DOCTRINE
SECTION VIII THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION
SECTION IX PERPETUITY
SECTION X TYPOLOGY
SECTION XI THE PROPHECIES
SECTION XII PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST
SECTION XIII THE MIRACLESINTRODUCTION
SECTION I THOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE
SECTION II THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD
SECTION III OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER
SECTION IV OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF
SECTION V JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS
SECTION VI THE PHILOSOPHERS
SECTION VII MORALITY AND DOCTRINE
SECTION VIII THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION
SECTION IX PERPETUITY
SECTION X TYPOLOGY
SECTION XI THE PROPHECIES
SECTION XII PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST
SECTION XIII THE MIRACLES
SECTION XIV APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS
NOTES
BLAISF， PASCAL （162，3-1662）， French mathematician， physicist，inventor， writer and Catholic philosopher. Pascals earliest workwas in the natural and applied sciences where he made importantcontributions to the study of fluids， and he was a mathematician ofthe first order. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject ofprojective geometry at the age of sixteen， and later correspondedwith Pierre de Fermat on probability theory， strongly influencingthe development of modern economics and social science.
Following a mystical experience in late 1654， he abandoned hisscientific work， and devoted himself to philosophy and theology，His two most famous works date from this period： the Lettresprovincials and the Pensees.
