The Composition of Pascals' Apologia 9781487579678

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Blaise Pascal, the force of whose intellect has never been in doubt, could have given us the most challenging apologia for the Christian faith that post-Renaissance man had known, He did devote several months to working on such a project, noting down his thoughts spontaneously and then classifying them, sorting out about half of his apologetic fragments into dossiers which represented embryonic chapters. He maintained that his principal claim to originality lay in this ordering of his thoughts. Yet he never revealed his plan, and unfortunately was interrupted in his work by illness and then death. Anthony R. Pugh has carefully examined Pascal's process of classification in order to determine his rigorous but subtle argument. Pascal systematically reduces the hostility of the unbeliever by showing the logical consequences of his position and by presenting different facets of the Christian faith. He is always aware that Christianity is not a position that can be reasoned and proved correct, although he believes that reason, properly used, will be profoundly satisfied with the fullness, complexity, and coherence of the Christian account of man. Professor Pugh discusses how Pascal's thinking gradually evolved during the years before he set down his ideas for a new kind of apology. It is possible to detect ways in which the plan itself grew in complexity. This shift in emphasis sheds unexpected light on the often disputed authenticity of Filleau de la Chaise's account of the apologia. Dr Pugh also discusses the theory that Pascal abandoned his apologia because he realized that he had set himself an impossible task, arguing that this theory is unsubstantiated by any known evidence, and that if Pascal did not complete his task, it was not because the problem had no solution but because he had resolved it to his own satisfaction once he had visualized the complete design. Anthony R. Pugh is Professor of French at the University of New Brunswick and the author of a previous volume in the University of Toronto Romance Series, Balzac's

Recurring Characters.

ANTHONY R. PUGH

The Composition of Pascal's Apologia

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto

Buffalo

London

©

University of Toronto Press 1984 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada Reprinted in 2018

ISBN 0-8020-5611-3

ISBN 978-1-4875-8079-7 (paper)

University of Toronto Romance Series 49

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Pugh, Anthony R., 1931The composition of Pascal's Apologia (University of Toronto romance series, ISSN 0082-5336 ; 49) Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-8020-5611-3 1. Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662. Pensees . 2 . Apologetics - 17th century. 3 . Catholic Church - Doctrinal and controversial works - Catholic authors . I . Title. II. Series Bl901.P44P8

239

C83-098386-4

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and grants from the University of New Brunswick and the Publications Fund of the University of Toronto Press.

For Annie, Dalton, Margaret

Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction

ix xiii

3

PART ONE: THE DESIGN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Ordre 29 Vanite 46 Misere 63 Ennui et qualites essentielles a 1 'homme 74 Raisons des effets 78 Grandeur 94 Contrarietes 102 Divertissement 111 Philosophes 122 Le Souverain Bien 128 A P[ort] R[oyal] 136 Commencement 149 Soumission et usage de la raison 164 Transition de la connaissance de l'homme a Dieu 168 Excellence de cette maniere de prouver Dieu 174 La nature est corrompue 180 Faussete des autres religions 183 Rendre la religion aimable 190 Fondements de la religion et reponse aux objections 192 Que la loi etait figurative 209 Rabbinage 223 Perpetuite 226 Preuves de Moise 234 Preuves de Jesus-Christ 239 Propheties 247

viii Contents 26 27 28 29

Figures particulieres 255 Morale chretienne 257 Conclusion 265 Conclusion to Part One: the argument of the Apologia summarized 273

PART TWO: GROWTH 30 The genesis of the Apologia 293 31 The evolution of the plan 335 32 The unclassed papers 389 Conclusion

429

Appendices a Suggestions for reading the Pensees 449 b The place of 'Transition de la connaissance de l'homme a Dieu' 455 c The editions of Brunschvicg, Stewart, and Chevalier 460 d Editorial decisions: fragment 131 464 e The strata of fragment 418 (Infini rien) 467 Notes

477

Bibliography

601

Index to Pensees

619

Acknowledgments

I cannot remember when I first read a pensee of Pascal, but I can recall vividly a series of lectures given in the University of Cambridge by May Wallas of Newnham College, which I attended as a third-year undergraduate. In her first lecture she gave out a basic reading list, and it included the Brunschvicg minor edition of the Pensees et Opuscules. At the beginning of her second lecture, she spoke of the revised Delmas edition, which she had been studying (this was November 1952), and advised us to use it rather than the Brunschvicg. Thus right from the start I was made dramatically aware of the editorial problem, and led in the direction of the Copy and the latest research. It is a pleasure to begin this book with a tribute to a fine scholar and a great teacher . I recall too that the best essay I wrote that year was on Pascal, and that he quickly became a 'mattre a penser.' Some years later, with a thesis on Proust completed, I was asked by an interviewing board what further research I had in mind, and I replied 'Pascal.' I was distracted by Balzac, but having to offer a special subject to Honours students of the Queen's University of Belfast, I chose Pascal, and I lectured on him regularly in the sixties. A stimulating tutorial with one of these students, Aileen McGarry, led me to consider seriously preparing an edition for students based on Lafuma (whose Seuil presentation was by that time enjoying wide currency) . For a graduate seminar at the University of New Brunswick I was able to do most of the necessary sorting and selection. It was not, however, until 1975, with Balzac behind me and a sabbatical year ahead of me, that I was able to devote myself properly to Pascal, and I then wished to examine the problem of the classification of the pensees in detail rather than to get involved with student editions.

x Acknowledgments The first part of this book was written that year. The second part took much longer, and filled three summers and a six-month sabbatical in 1980. I am grateful to the University of New Brunswick for making the two leaves possible, and to the Department of Romance Languages (especially to the Chairman, Robert Whalen), for giving me encouragement and secretarial assistance during the time this book has been on the stocks . I received financial help from the Canada Council and its successor the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in the form of two six-month Leave Fellowships, with travel grants,and generous research grants for the summers of 1978 and 1979 . The Research Fund of the University of New Brunswick supported my research in the summer of 1977 and (in part) in the summer of 1980. I wish to thank a long succession of secretaries in the Department of Romance Languages at UNB for grappling with a typescript which was rarely straightforward. In particular I would name Cristina Argaez, who handled most of the more complicated material, and freed me from many anxieties. Thanks are due also the staff of six libraries - the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the British Library in London, the Taylorian Institute in Oxford, and the libraries of the Universities of Bristol, Harvard, and New Brunswick for all, in their different ways, making my task easier than it might have been - and to Ron Schoeffel and Jean Wilson of the University of Toronto Press for their strong support and constant good humour. Many colleagues and friends have exchanged ideas with me, or answered requests concerning specific questions: Donald Charlton of the University of Warwick, Hugh Davidson of the University of Virginia, Alan Gabbey of The Queen's University, Belfast, Fred Krieger of the Atlantic School of Theology, Nova Scotia , Moya Longstaffe of Belfast, Sara Melzer of the University of California at Los Angeles, Elizabeth Moles of the University of Glasgow, Roger Pierrot of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Ulrich Simon of The University of London, King's College, Derek Watts of the University of Exeter, and David Wetsel, currently of the University of Texas. I am particularly grateful to Annie Barnes, one-time Reader in French at the University of Oxford, for her constant interest and encouragement, and to Dalton London of the University of New Brunswick, who besides substantially reducing the printing costs by removing several hundred redundant commas from the typescript

Acknowledgments

xi

which he read with care, has always been ready to listen when I have wanted to talk. The third dedicatee is my youngest daughter, who has been a deeper source of inspiration than she will ever realize. Finally, I thank my wife Mary for taking more than her fair share of domestic responsibility, thus allowing me to pursue my research without distraction. Works of scholarship are not produced by scholars alone. Anthony R. Pugh Fredericton, July 1980

Abbreviations

Editions of Pascal Individual pensees are referred to by the numbers assigned by Lafuma in editions published by Luxembourg and Seuil, preceded by the indication 'fr.,' 'La.' or 'no.,' used without distinction. Figures in brackets (or, when the reference is made inside parentheses, following an oblique stroke) refer to the number of the liasse (1°-28°) or of the Unit (I-XXXV) in which the fragment is housed. Other systems are referred to as below. For full bibliographical information, see section 1 of the bibliography.

A. Br. Del. G.E. LG. Lux.

o.c. R.O.

s.

Seuil

D. Anzieu (Colin) L. Brunschvicg (Hachette) L. Lafuma (Delmas) Oeuvres completes, ed. L. Brunschvicg et al., Hachette, Les Grands Ecrivains M. Le Guern (Gallimard) Pensees, Editions du Luxembourg (ed. L. Lafuma) Oeuvres completes, ed. J. Mesnard (Desclee de Brouwer) Recueil original des Pensees (BN ms . 9202) P. Sellier (Mercure de France) Oeuvres completes, ed. L. Lafuma, Aux Editions du Seuil, Collection L'Integrale

Reviews and Journals AJFS ALM CPR CUC DAI DSS

Australian Journal of French Studies Archives des Lettres Modernes . Chroniques de Port-Royal Cahiers universitaires catholiques Dissertation Abstracts International Dix-Septieme siecle

xiv Abbreviations

ELLF FF FR FS IL MLN MLR NFS PFSL RHLF RHPC RLC RN RNP RR RSH RUO SAPR SPT YFS

Etudes de langue et litterature franqaises French Forum French Review French Studies Information litteraire Modern Language Notes Modern Language Review Nottingham French Studies Papers in French Seventeenth-Century Literature Revue d'Histoire litteraire de la France Revue d'Histoire de la Philosophie et d'Histoire Generale de la Civilisation Revue de Litterature Comparee Romance Notes Revue neo-saolastique de philosophie Romania Review Revue des Sciences humaines Revue de l'Universite d'Ottawa Soaiete des Amis de Port-Royal Les Sciences philosophiques et theologiques Yale French Studies

Other

BN

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

'Qu'on ne dise pas que je n'ai rien