'Fail Better': Pascal and the Good Uses of Failure

Abstract

Abstract This article proposes a new approach to the Pensées of Blaise Pascal by focusing on the notion of failure. It shows how failure lies at the core of Pascal's apologetic project in the Pensées and suggests that Pascal urges the reader to confront and reinterpret his own inevitable failure. The article identifies two models of secular failure in the Pensées, arguing for their importance for readers of Pascal today, and especially for answering the thorny question of what it would mean for a secular reader to take Pascal seriously when he speaks of 'la misère de l'homme sans Dieu'.