Journal of the History of Philosophy

Boog RZVlZWS 489 Francis X. J. Coleman. Neither Angel nor Beast. The Life and Work of Blaise Pascal. London : Routledge and Kegan Paul, x986. Pp. 2~7. $33.ooFrancis X. J. Coleman's book on Pascal, intended for the "general reader," is, on the whole, an interesting and accessible discussion of the life and thought of this seventeenth-century thinker. His thesis is that the same opposing forces and tensions that characterize seventeenth-century France (Church vs. state; religion vs. philosophy ; Gallicanism vs. ultramontanism) are found in the life, literary style, and philosophical thought of Pascal. Given these tensions, Coleman claims, the truth of Pascal's life and work is best captured by the rhetorical figure of oxymoron in its union of opposites generating "a new transcendence." In part one, "Scenes from the life of Pascal," we are presented with a cumulative and detailed picture of Pascal's life, from his boyhood under the sole tutelage of his father to his slow and painful death at the premature age of thirty-eight. Working through a series of texts--letters; memoirs; biography; mathematical, philosophical and scientific treatises; personal devotional writings; even a transcribed dialogue between Pascal and others associated with Port Royal--Professor Coleman brings together the various, often contradictory concerns which occupied the author of the Pens~es. By far the most interesting chapter here is that devoted to the short biography of Pascal written by his elder sister, Gilberte P6rier. Her text is full of details, and she draws a vivid portrait of a young man tormented both physically and spiritually. Coleman's examination of Gilberte's account provides insight into the mind of a man consumed by, and torn between, "worldly" projects, public theological debates and a deeply personal service to God. In the latter chapters of part one, Coleman goes on to consider some of Pascal'slesser writings. His work here tends to be superficial, and he skims over the deeper issues that were of great concern to Pascal. For example, Coleman should, in his treatment of the Prefacepour le Trait~ du Vide, say more about Pascal's views on the distinction between, and respective uses of, authority and reason. This was an important issue withJansenists generally, and formed a basis for their defense against the encyclical "Cure occasione" (1653) condemning the Five Propositions. On the other hand, in keeping with his thesis, Coleman does do a good job in these brief chapters of bringing into focus the tensions between Pascal's "material" and spiritual concerns. Pascal assumed many roles-scientist , mystic, man of letters, philosopher, religious reformer and Christian "apologist ." What holds them all together, "what makes them into one man," Coleman argues, is Pascal's "literary style, both luminous and hard, and the oxymoron" (9o). Part one gives the reader some understanding of Pascal the person, and prepares him or her for the works dealt with in part two. But Coleman's discussion is, on the whole, rather unsatisfying: the treatment of particular writings and projects is brief and sketchy; and the texts are presented in an extremely fragmented manner. No attempt is made to provide any scientific or mathematical background, nor to provide any detail regarding Pascal's own contributions in these fields (we are told nothing, for example, of Pascal's work on the cycloid, although it is mentioned several times). These are curious lacunae in a book such as this. 49 ~ JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 26:3 JULY 1988 The second half of the book, "Views on the work of Pascal," is devoted to a more detailed analysis of Pascal's two major works: The Provincial Letters and the Perishes.The chapters on the "letters" are mostly a summarizing review of the eighteen pieces making up Les Provinciales, and Coleman is good at putting them into their politicohistorical context. But the religious and theological background, crucial to understanding the work, is sketched in with insufficient detail. His explanation of the issue of divine grace vs. free will is vague and unhelpful; Molinism is summarized in a single sentence; and there is no discussion of the two important works by Arnauld the controversy over which occasioned Pascal to begin the letters...