During the seventeenth century, many philosophers formulated new ideas that would consequently change the beliefs of the common man. The “thinkers” of the Renaissance Period have the way 17th Century man to the current world. In short, the world viewed religion, philosophy, and science in a very different way by the end of the seventeenth century because of these great philosophers. In the early 1600’s Blaise Pascal, originally from Clermont, played a dominant two areas of advanced thinking. His mathematical reputation rests more on what he might have done than on what he actually affected, a considerable part of his life he devoted wholly to religious exercises. As a background on the author of Penses, no one displayed greater natural genius than Pascal. In Penses, Pascal states how God is an almighty power to which man has no comparison. Man cannot grasp neither the concept of infinity nor the vastness of the area to which he lives in. Pascal continues by saying all things, “…meet and reunite…and find each other in God, and in God alone”. Everything in the universe is cause and effect, making it difficult to know a complete part without knowing the basic composition. If humans are composed of a “material” we will know nothing at all, according to Pascal. Going further to say that without a finite ending, man would rapidly overpopulate. Without an infinite space to nourish ones self in, man would contribute to his own downfall. To know God in all his might and infinites, man must understand his surroundings. All things created came from Him, as to be proven by an example of this sheet of paper. The paper comes from a tree, to which came from the Earth, which came the Maker. Likewise, all that surrounds man comes from God, and all that is finite is real. Philosophy has changed dramatically over time, along with the views of non-philosophers that came to accept these new ideas. Almo...
