Pascal and the Modern Self

Catalog description

This seminar is one of the series “History of the Modern Self” which includes Montaigne, Rousseau, and soon Nietzsche. This semester will focus on Pascal’s conception of the self as revealed by his humanistic case for religious faith in response to the skeptical challenge of Montaigne. The aim is to understand all the implications of this encounter for the history of modern Western thought about human psychology, religion, and politics