Sunday Quote: Blaise Pascal on Knowing Truth
“We know truth not only through our reason but also through our heart. It is through the latter that we know first principles, and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to refute them.”
– Blaise Pascal, Pensées
Brian Auten
Brian Auten is the founder emeritus of Apologetics315. He is also director of Reasonable Faith Belfast. Brian holds a Masters degree in Christian Apologetics and has interviewed over 150 Christian apologists. His background is in missions, media direction, graphic design, and administration. Brian started Apologetics315 in 2007 to be an apologetics hub to equip Christians to defend the faith.
Comments:
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therealdrag0
I'm not a fan of such quotes. Reason is what I have to lean on. The heart is a wash of deceitful emotions.
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Brian
Pascal also said: "Two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason." (183/253) and also, "Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it…" (188/267)
Pascal wasn't against reason – but he offered a balance and discerned its limits. In addition (as the quote indicates) he understood that first principles (basic beliefs and axioms) are not the products of reason, but are known intuitively.
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inchristus
"The heart has its reasons of which Reason knows nothing."
Blaise…again