Blaise Pascal Mathematician, Physicist and Thinker about God [Hardcover]

This chronological survey explores Pascal's (162362) achievement as mathematician, physicist and religious thinker; it also has a chapter on his life. His work on conic sections, the probability calculus, number theory, cycloid curves and hydrostatics is considered in detail. Analyses of the Provincial Letters and the Thoughts bring out the many distinctive features, thematicnn and technical, of each text. Pascal's lesser known works are also studied. There is a chapter on the Wager argument. A wide-ranging bibliography completes the book.Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Introduction - Foundations - Jansenism - A 'God-Intoxicated Man' - The Provincial Letters - The Christian Life - Human Nature - The Wager - The Scriptures - Pascal, 'Devout Geometrician' - Conclusion - Select Bibliography - IndexDONALD ADAMSON