Infinity between mathematics and apologetics

pascal's notion of infinite distance

João F. Nobre Cortese

pp. 2379-2393

in: History and philosophy of infinity, Synthese 192 (8), 2015.

Abstract

In this paper I will examine what Blaise Pascal means by “infinite distance”, both in his works on projective geometry and in the apologetics of the Pensées’s. I suggest that there is a difference of meaning in these two uses of “infinite distance”, and that the Pensées’s use of it also bears relations to the mathematical concept of heterogeneity. I also consider the relation between the finite and the infinite and the acceptance of paradoxical relations by Pascal.

Cited authors

Pascal Blaise