Explore the contrasting views on faith between Pascal and Nietzsche, their complex relationship, the death of Christianity, Pascal's conversion and struggle with doubt, his criticism of hubris and self-love, Pascal's Wager, the authority of scripture, and the connection between Pascal and Nietzsche.
01:42:54
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Philosophical Differences and Similarities
Pascal and Nietzsche are rarely mentioned together, seemingly at odds due to Pascal's devout Christianity and Nietzsche's anti-Christianity.
Despite this, both critique Enlightenment's emphasis on reason and offer alternatives to materialistic secular society.
insights INSIGHT
Will Over Intellect
Both Pascal and Nietzsche critique the Enlightenment's faith in human reason.
They believe that will is more important than intellect, prioritizing individual human life.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Nietzsche's Mixed Views on Pascal
Nietzsche acknowledges Pascal's intellect and honesty but also criticizes him.
Nietzsche uses Pascal as a stand-in for Christian apologists.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Pascal and Nietzsche are two names of monumental importance in the Western philosophical tradition, but rarely are their names mentioned together. At a glance, there is a wide gulf that separates the two, and seems to place them at irreconcilable odds. Pascal was a devout Christian, whose philosophical works concern the Christian faith: his most famous argument is the wager, which is a kind of apologetic device for bringing people into the faith. Nietzsche, on the other hand, carries out a philosophical project which is anti-Christian. He says he has no taste for faith in God, and that this faith is an indelicacy among thinkers.
Today, we will examine Pascal's life, and the basics of his philosophy. Then, we will compare these two malcontents of the Enlightenment. Both question the supremacy of human reason, and offer an alternative to the materialistic concerns of a secular society. Both were men afflicted with ill health, and who struggled with mental illness. But they come to completely contrasting views in their assessment of life. In spite of this, there are ways in which Pascal's influence may have lasting importance for understanding Nietzsche. In Daybreak, Pascal is a stand-in for Christian hatred of mankind, who may have shaped Nietzsche's psychological analysis of Christianity. And in the eternal recurrence, we arguably find a variation on Pascal's Wager. While Pascal urges us to bet on God, Nietzsche's invitation is to bet on the world.
“The Only Logical Christian”: Nietzsche’s Critique of Pascal by Brendan Donnellan, available on JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469656557_oflaherty.12?seq=10
The Nietzsche Podcast