Peguy et Pascal

[摘要] The critics of Charles Peguy have often noted in his writings the influence of Blaise Pascal. This influence, however, has been only alluded to and never studied in detail. This thesis proposed then to measure exactly the nature of the influence, to define it, and to see precisely in what context one must consider it. This entails, primarily, a close reading of the works of Peguy to discover just how similar to Pascal;;s his ideas might be, then a retracing of the source of those ideas which resemble Pascal;;s to find if they actually derive from those of the seventeenth century author. The reader of Peguy and Pascal must notice immediately the remarkable similarity in their thoughts and expression, and Peguy often admits that this similarity is due to a precise influence of Pascal. This is not true, however, in all cases where critics have alluded to an influence. There is often only an affinity or coincidence. The most important lesson learned by Peguy in his reading of Pascal is that of the misery and greatness in the human condition, like Pascal, Peguy leaned most on the pessimistic side of the dialectic: he is most like Pascal in his stress of the misery which he believed necessary for any religious conversion. Peguy also owes to Pascal the revelation that there are orders in reality, in states of mind, in modes of knowledge, or in political bodies which cannot be reduced to one another. Pascal’s ideas of ;;diversion”, of the bet, of the insertion of the eternal in the temporal, among others, show up again in the writings of Peguy. Other comparisons made by the critics are often artificial. It is true that Peguy;;s famous dialectic between the mystical and the political can be used to explain Pascal;;s position in the Provinciales against what he calls the ;;politics;; of the Jesuits. But it is not to be supposed that in the Provinciales lies the source of Peguy;;s concept. Where critics have inferred an influence, they should have often been more conservative in their observations. Peguy took from Pascal several essential ideas, but his enthusiasm for the famous Christian was limited in early years by his own socialism and collectivism; in later years by the Jansenism and asceticism he discovered in Pascal. There are several of Peguy;;s texts which indicate his attentive and passioned reflexion on several of Pascal’s texts; the most notable is Clio 1 where one finds a vocabulary definitely ;;pascalien;;. Important as these texts may be, though, they are sporadic. Peguy;;s thoughts evolve from his reflexions on Pascal, but the end product in the development is usually dissimilar to the initial one. His ideas go beyond the limits of Pascal;;s. Phe encounter Peguy had with the writings of Pascal, as explained by Professor Boutroux at the Sorbonne in 1897, was a lasting one. It was a decisive shock, an ;;intellectual;; emotion, that affected his entire slow return to Christianity. Pascal was for Peguy one of his ;;authors;;, one of the essential ;;fidelities;; of his life.

[发布机构] Rice University