An Imaginary Dialogue between Aristotle and Pascal about the Greatness and Nothingness of Man

Abstract

Despite the fact that the time interval separating the lives of Aristotle and Pascal is extremely long, antiquity was for the national genius of France a source of re­newed inspiration, to which memory returns and reason turns. Pascal’s belief that “all human dignity lies in thought” was previously expressed by Aristotle: “the activity of the mind is significant… reason in comparison with man is something divine”, this means that, on the one hand, a reasonable life is natural for a person and makes him a man par excellence, and on the other hand, a rea­sonable life, exalting a person, elevates him to the status of a sage. The article examines the arguments of two thinkers about the nature of reason, expressed in the writings “Nicomachean ethics” and “Thoughts” and developed as a result into teachings that directly affect the problems of being and the search for good. In search of an answer to the question of the highest good, philosophers have proposed different solutions, so it is not surprising that, driven by the desire to achieve genuine happiness, Aristotle and Pascal come to contradictory conclu­sions. According to Pascal, greatness does not consist in following one extreme, but in reaching both and filling the space between them with your presence. The purpose of the study is to recognize a common concept in the differences between Aristotle and Pascal.