Descartes, Montaigne and Pascal

Paper Summary:

This paper cites passages by each of the three philosophers Descartes, Pascal and Montaigne, which are analyzed and placed within the context of the works within which they originally appeared. The author points out that all of the passages and works have a common theme --- whether God exists. The paper argues that philosophers of this period had to fit God into a rational and scientific world view.

From the Paper:

"The philosophers of the seventeenth century were, in a sense, inventing modern thought; they had the difficult job of incorporating the system of faith that was prevalent throughout the western world in to the framework of what science was discovering. During this historical time, and perhaps for the first time, faith was not enough anymore. In order to preserve faith, for themselves and for future generations, these philosophers had to prove that faith was justified on the basis of reason, and it is impressive that quite a number of them actually managed to do this quite effectively."

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