@ARTICLE{Płoszczyniec_Antoni_Gnostic_2023,
 author={Płoszczyniec, Antoni},
 number={No 4},
 pages={427-441},
 journal={Przegląd Filozoficzny. Nowa Seria},
 howpublished={online},
 year={2023},
 publisher={Komitet Nauk Filozoficznych PAN},
 publisher={Wydział Filozofii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego},
 abstract={The aim of the article is to identify and characterize gnostic motifs in the philosophy of Blaise Pascal. This text is based on the distinction between ʽgnosis’ and ‘Gnosticism’. Gnosis is a specific form of religious thought, according to which knowledge is the medium of self-salvation, while Gnosticism is the original and paradigmatic shape of actualization of that form of thinking from the first centuries CE. The work traces the presence of typically gnostic tropes in Pascal’s philosophy, such as the theme of the alienated life in the world, the opposition between the spirit and the world, the ‘remoteness’ of God, orders of existence, life as a dream and the ‘tumult of this world’. The result of investigations is promising. Pascal’s philosophy – probably because of his existential experiences analogous to those of the founders of various Gnostic sects – contains a number of motifs characteristic of the Gnostics. This mainly applies to the theme of alienation. Existence in the world of the thinking subject is filled with alienation, and the spirit does not feel part of the incomprehensible and thoughtless world. The dualism of the spirit and the world has an analogue in the opposition of God and the world, which betrays almost no traces of its origin in God. Pascal developed very creatively the theme of the ‘tumult of this world’ through reflections on entertainment. Nevertheless, his thought does not constitute gnosis, because it is in strong opposition to all the key elements of gnosis: the philosopher confronts faith with knowledge, grace with self-salvation, and the universalism of Christianity with elitism and hermeticism.},
 title={Gnostic Themes in Pascal’s Philosophy},
 type={Artykuł},
 URL={http://journals.pan.pl/Content/134648/PDF/2023-04-PFIL-27.pdf},
 doi={10.24425/pfns.2023.148669},
 keywords={dread, gnosis, Gnosticism, horror, human condition, human existence, immensity, B. Pascal, world},
}