Ludwin, Dawn M.: Blaise Pascal's Quest for the Ineffable

Whether in his fragmentary Pensées, his personal correspondence, or his scientific writings on the void and geometry, the Baroque thinker gravitates to the same elusive questions: How can reason understand that which surpasses reason? How to speak of that which is beyond words? His seemingly paradoxical inquiry into God’s transcendent nature - and its mathematical corollary, infinity - does not dead-end at a logical impasse. This book shows how Pascal overcomes the limits of reason by adopting dissonant cognitive strategies akin to the mystical tradition known as apophatic («negative») theology. What emerges from this book is a philosophical dialogue between Pascal and Pseudo-Dionysius, the fifth-century writer of seminal apophatic treatises. XI,159 Seiten, gebunden (New Perspectives in Philosophical Scholarship; Vol. 16/Peter Lang Verlag 2001) Mängelexemplar/minor shelfwear