Newsletter of Phenomenology

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(2015) Synthese 192 (8).

Infinity between mathematics and apologetics

pascal's notion of infinite distance

João Figueiredo Nobre Cortese

pp. 2379-2393

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.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-014-0599-7

Full citation:

Nobre Cortese, J. F. (2015). Infinity between mathematics and apologetics: pascal's notion of infinite distance. Synthese 192 (8), pp. 2379-2393.

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