@vtrlx take a look at the citation for the claim: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/pascal/ not only does it begin with:
Pascal did not publish any philosophical works during his relatively brief lifetime.
the only other indication of his religious fervor was.......also found on him after death:
During the night of 23 November 1654, Pascal had a dreamlike or ecstatic experience which he interpreted as a religious conversion. He wrote a summary of the experience in a brief document entitled the Memorial, which he sewed into his coat and carried with him until his death eight years later.
this mysterious text began with an introduction from some other fucking guy:
Périer may have exaggerated the other-worldly attitude of his late brother-in-law,
he apparently did write about religion, under a pseudonym (not explained how it was known to be pascal), but it was to defend someone else from church censure:
The Provincial Letters are Pascal's deeply personal, angry response to the use of political power and church censure
then we get to the same concern i had with franz kafka:
Cole (1995, Chapter 15) argues that Pascal exhibited signs of manic depression and an almost infantile dependence on his family in his mature years.
so you're saying he could easily have been manipulated by his family, or perhaps even led to death by neglect at their desire
In addition, many of the reported details of his personal life suggest a fundamentalist interpretation of religious belief that is difficult to reconcile with the critical reflection that defines philosophy as a discipline.
which again, is also at odds with the faux-"logical" argument of the "wager"! consider this:
according to Pascal's radical theological position, it was impossible in principle to acquire or support genuine religious faith by reason, because genuine religious faith was a pure gift from God.
which is completely at odds with the translations of the text on the wikipedia page which describe a finite number of lives as a bet. but then it just says this outright:
Given the status of the Pensées as a posthumously published notebook, it also remains unclear whether Pascal endorsed the opinions that are recorded there, or whether he planned to use some of them merely for comment or critique. They are reliably attributed to Pascal only when he expressed similar views elsewhere.
emphasis mine because oh? you're saying there's stuff in this notebook that may not be attributable to blaise pascal? you're just gonna say that as the immediate sentence before mentioning the section which has the "wager"?
