The Conflict Between Reason and Faith: Voltaire, Hume, Paine, and Pascal's Wager     OBJECTIVES:   1. Be able to discuss the influence of rationalism on religion in the Enlightenment. 2. Be able to discuss the connection between rationalism and Deism. 3. Be able to discuss the fundamental tenets of Deism. 4. Be able to discuss the position of Voltaire and of Thomas Paine on the existence of God and on institutionalized religion. Be able to explain their arguments for these positions. 5. Be able to discuss Hume=s argument from design as a proof for the existence of God. 6. Be able to speculate about what the response of Voltaire and Paine would have been to Hume, and to explain the response of such modern scientific geniuses as Stephen Hawking. 7. Be able to discuss the early career and Pascal, and to explain his shift of emphasis from science and mathematics to religion. 8. Be able to discuss the characteristics of mysticism, and to show how these characteristics do or do not apply to Pascal=s Night of Fire. 9. Be able to discuss Pascal=s position with regard to Cartesian philosophy and Montaigne=s philosophy. 10. Be able to discuss Pascal=s view of human life. 11. Be able to explain Pascal=s Wager, and his argument for why humans should believe in the existence of God.   FAMOUS QUOTATIONS: From Pascal=s Pensees: ALet us imagine a number of men all in chains and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of the condition of men.@ AThe eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.@ AWhat joy can we find in the expectation of nothing but hopeless misery.@ AAll these contradictions which seem most to keep me from the knowledge of religion, have led me quickly to the truest one.@ AI will never forgive Christianity for what it did to Pascal.@ Nietzsche    OUTLINE   I. Overview of the influence of Rationalism on culture in the Enlightenment   A. Painting B. Music C. Summary of philosophical schools we have studied   II. The Impact of the Age of Reason on Religion   A. Deism B. God as Clock-maker C. Hume=s argument from design D. The doubting Thomases: i) Voltaire ii) Thomas Paine   III. Blaise Pascal   A. Early life B. Role of Jansenism in his life i) definition of Jansenism ii) Port Royal iii) The Provincial Letters   C. The Night of Fire: November 23, 1654   D. What is mysticism? i) unitive experience ii) immediacy of knowledge iii) indescribability iv) contrasted to mathematical knowledge   E. Opposition to Cartesians   F. Opposition to Montaigne   G. Purpose of his work   i) to seek salvation and a life of faith ii) comparison to Luther: despair and faith.   H. View of human life and human nature i) the wretchedness of life ii) the emptiness of contemplative introspection iii) the selfishness of humans iv) the final verdict: death is either immediate or postponed v) as contrasted to Enlightenment views of human nature, human life in society, and political structures   I. Pascal=s Wager i) the pros and cons of atheism ii) the pros and cons of belief in God iii) what=s your best bet?     IV. Summary A. Pascal=s redefinition of faith and of the human relationship in faith to God B. Subsequent appraisals