PHILOSOPHY - Blaise Pascal

The French 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is one of the world’s great pessimists- with an unusual power to cheer us up.

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Produced in collaboration with Mad Adam

[bolivar]

This quote by Pascal really gets to me every time I read it.

"Even those who hang themselves indeed seek happiness"
So, no matter what, indeed we are not even "able" to lose hope. Even a person who attempts to kill himself, is indeed "hoping" for something better. How sad is that...

These words by Eduardo Galeano may give us some consolation though:

“Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.”

It is also very true and very beautiful what Emily Dickinson says:

" Hope inspires the good to reveal itself"

Well, I feel very bad writing a hopeful comment under the most dark and consoling Pascal video:-)


But I mean no disrespect. I admire the man deeply for using his head properly and taking the time to write down every horrible truth about our misery, instead of spending his life in denial, like most of us do most of the time.

Thank you very much. Whenever I need help, this will be the first lesson I will re-watch for sure.

[zarathustra]

The choice of paintings for this video was absolutely top notch! Caravaggio, de la Tour, Rembrandt, Bosch, Goya... A feast for the ears and eyes as well, great job.

[chrisorochi]

When you pronounce a word in german you do it perfectly, when you pronounce a word in french you do it perfectly, and your english is perfect, that's besides the fact that you have a wonderful voice, just brilliant! i couldn't help but praise your talent.

[abbygaby]

"All of man's unhappines comes from his inability of staying in his room alone"
2020: you don't SAY

[sergeantslaughter]

I love how whenever I get to know a philosopher and their writing, they're always so much more elegant and charming or passionate and full of conviction rather than the all too familiar and utterly shallow mainstream impression that we have of these figures.

[morpheus]

Pascal's philosophy in a nutshell: *Ever since I gave up hope I feel much better.*

[CosmicFaust]

God, I love existentialism so much! It is such an amazing philosophical school of thought. Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sartre, Kierkegaard etc are so brilliant to read. Funnily enough, many people think existentialism = atheism. This isn't true and in fact it was many Christians who started this type of thinking which goes all the way back to Augustine. Other ones are Paul Tillich, Lev Shestov, Karl Barth and even Thomas Aquinas.
Thanks for making these videos School of Life and please continue because there are amazing.

[yonabon]

People nowadays are not comfortable with boredom and being with your own thoughts. I love that quote " All of man's unhapiness comes from his inability to stay peacefully alone in his room". I find that true. When I was a kid I spent hours thinking about the smallest things and life. I feel that created a strong root of presence in life. Now any free time I get I make sure to consume loads of media in the idea of "learning" because sitting with my thoughts is very uncomfortable but I never sit with my own thoughts and make realizations in my own life and I've strayed from the curious child that I used to be. It's painful being a human knowing the solution but still not fixing it.

[juliogarcia]

Finally, my favorite. Surprised Pascal's wager wasn't mentioned.

[SuperGreatSphinx]

"Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen."

― Blaise Pascal

[ThePeaceableKingdom]

Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering...
but it's all over much too soon.

[jackcarraway]

Ironically, Pascal's thinking was already in the Bible: Ecclesiastes.

A criminally overlooked book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes is one of the most powerful works in philosophy. Here, presumably King Solomon asks an age old question: what is the meaning of life?

Step back and think about that. Solomon was one of if not THE richest, wisest and most powerful people in the world at the point. He had everything a man can only dream having a fraction of, but even he questioned the meaning to life.

He tried everything to solve this riddle: works, wisdom, pleasure, etc. yet he came to the same conclusion for all of them: they were all ultimately meaningless.

"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity." In Hebrew, the word for vanity translates roughly to "smoke" or "vapor"; it's seemingly there, yet whwn you try to grab it ijust disappears.

A dreary outlook on life, yet Solomon, who at this point spent years of apostasy from God, found the solution to this seemingly impossible to answer question at the end of the book: "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

[Leon-pnrb]

5:53
damn....too accurate, Pascal . Hitting all the right spots, man.
I wish all philosophy was taught like this.

[prof.leomilani]

You guys make such an incredible work. I'm a Philosophy teacher and have been using so much your videos for educational purpose!! Thank you so much!!

[MegaBdboy]

Please talk louder i can't hear you when i'm eating my cereals.

[gtabigfan]

What do you think about Marcus Aurelius? Yeah, He is a statesman but He wrote a great philosophy book.

[musicraper]

Fantastic! An amazing thinker and a huge comfort! So much wisdom

[andimatrus]

I like pessimistics, given I am one of them, why live your life throught hope, when we all know the end? The best thing you can do is live your life knowing everything can be worse but you are still fortunated to be alive and have conciousness of it.

[quintustheophilus]

Gottfried Leibniz! He has topics likes Leibniz's Law, his proof for the existance of God, monads, best of all possible worlds, principle of sufficient reason, etc

[williamgunderson]

One of the greatest channels in YouTube history.