Towards an ontology of Blaise Pascal's "flaming spaces" (reason, faith and existence)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31649/sent01.01.102

Keywords:

rationalism, Cartesianism, existential reconditions for the constitution of ontology, the concept of horror, Modern philosophy

Abstract

Author claims that Pascal proposes a way of constituting ontology which is fundamentally different from the Cartesian way that formed the basis of Modern philosophy. In particular, the author associates the "fiery" constitution of ontology in Pascal's philosophy with the existential preconditions for such constitution, the main of which are: 1) the revelation of the transcendent in human experience; 2) the inevitable awareness of man's limitations in relation to the transcendent; 3) the feeling of horror caused by the encounter with the fundamentally infinite transcendent, which cannot be exhaustively ontologically thematized. These premises explain, according to the author, the "fiery" nature of ontological thought in Pascal's philosophy as a direct antagonist to the "cold" thought of Cartesianism that is based on the assumption of the fundamental possibility of mental grasping and thematization of all existence.

References

Buber, M. (1995). Eclipse of God. [In Russian]. In M. Buber, Two types of faith (pp. 341-417). Moscow: Respublika.

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Deleuze, G., & F. Guattari (1998). What is philosophy? [In Russian]. Moscow: Institute of Experimental Sociology; Saint Petersburg: Aleteia.

Heidegger, M. (1993). European nihilism. [In Russian]. In M. Heidegger, Time and being (pp. 63-177). Moscow: Respublika.

Ilyin, I. (1996). Poststructuralism. deconstructionism. postmodernism. [In Russian]. Moscow: Intrade.

Mamardashvili, M. (1996). On the possible meta-description of consciousness. [In Russian]. In M. Mamardashvili, Necessity of oneself (pp. 250-265). Moscow: Labyrinth.

Pascal, B. (1994). Thoughts. [In Russian]. Moscow: REFL-book.

Pomerants, G. (1995). Meetings with Buber. [In Russian]. In M. Buber, Two types of faith (pp. 157-232). Moscow: Respublika.

Reale, G., & Antiseri, D. (1996). Western philosophy from its origins to the present day in 4 volumes (Vol. 3). [In Russian]. Saint Petersburg: TOO TK Petropolis.

Shestov, L. (1993). Gethsemane night (Pascal’s philosophy). [In Russian]. In L. Shestov, Works in 2 volumes (Vol. 2, pp. 278-324). Moscow: Nauka.

Shestov, L. (1993). Sons and stepsons of time (Spinoza’s historical destiny). [In Russian]. In L. Shestov, Works in 2 volumes (Vol. 2, pp. 253-277). Moscow: Nauka.

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Published

2000-06-26

How to Cite

Okorokov , V. . (2000). Towards an ontology of Blaise Pascal’s "flaming spaces" (reason, faith and existence). Sententiae, 1(1), 102–110. https://doi.org/10.31649/sent01.01.102

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2000): SENTENTIAE

Section

ARTICLES

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