Pensées

The Pensées (Thoughts) is a collection of fragments written by the French 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensées was in many ways his life's work. It represented Pascal's defense of the Christian religion, and the concept of "Pascal's wager" stems from a portion of this work. Prior to his death, Pascal was working on a Christian apologetics book which was never completed. When Pascal died in 1662, he left behind several draft notes. They were edited by others, and the notes were first published in the form of Pensées in 1670. The order with which the notes should be read was unclear, and various subsequent editions have attempted to order them by themes or by writing dates. The book was censored by the Catholic Church, with its printing forbidden by the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.