Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Western philosophy, c 500 to c 1600
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Pensees - Moral and Intellectual Objections to Christianity from a Multi-Disciplinary Point of View (Paperback)
Loot Price: R426
Discovery Miles 4 260
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Pensees - Moral and Intellectual Objections to Christianity from a Multi-Disciplinary Point of View (Paperback)
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Loot Price R426
Discovery Miles 4 260
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Total price: R446
Discovery Miles: 4 460
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The term "Pensees" is appropriated from a book of the same name (it
translates from the French as "Thoughts") by the philosopher Blaise
Pascal. Pascal argues that a universe without God is terrifying and
meaningless; he goes on to offer his famous-perhaps infamous is a
better word-"wager," whereby he argues that belief in God is a good
bet, an expedient decision. In lively and accessible prose, shot
through and through with humour and satirical wit, Professor
Zimmerman demolishes the choice for Christian faith by exploring
some powerful moral and intellectual objections to religion. He
does so partly through a look at history: the brutal outrages of
the Protestant Reformation; the crimes of the Catholic Church with
its thought-police, the Inquisition; the heart-breaking travesty of
the Salem witchcraft delusion. He also discusses how Christianity
has impeded the growth of scientific progress (the Galileo affair)
and, through an interpretation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's
romance-novel "The Scarlet Letter," how it can be detrimental to a
person's psychological health and sense of self-worth. While
"Pensees" destroys the argument for religious belief, Zimmerman
does not leave the reader hanging over an existential and
philosophical void: the book introduces the theme of atheistic
existentialism with a chapter on Friedrich Nietzsche and ends, via
an exploration of Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, with a passionate
recommendation of existential humanism as a viable alternative to
religion as a philosophy of life. Zimmerman ranges widely through
the disciplines to come to this final recommendation-history,
literature, science, philosophy, psychology, sociology-appealing
both to our reason (logos) and our emotions (pathos), and drawing
upon sources from the highbrow (noted authors, notable scholars) to
popular culture (The Simpsons, South Park, Monty Python, George
Carlin, Woody Allen). Pensees is a lively and profoundly
thought-provoking read, even a life-changing-certainly a
life-affirming-experience.
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