meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Within Reason

#149 Blaise Pascal: Philosopher, Mathematician, Genius - Graham Tomlin

Within Reason

Alex J O'Connor

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.92.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2026

⏱️ 96 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack.Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, author and former Church of England bishop.LINKS:Get Graham's book, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern WorldGraham's organisation, Seen and Unseen TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Can Blaise Pascal Be Categorised?03:05 - Who Was Blaise Pascal?11:12 - Pascal’s First Conversion17:19 - Pascal’s “Night of Fire”21:59 - Did Pascal Reject Reason?31:45 - Pascal’s War With Descartes42:31 - Did Pascal Invent the Bus?45:42 - The Heart Has Its Reasons, Of Which Reason Knows Nothing50:03 - How Pascal Invented Probability Theory52:29 - Pascal’s Wager1:15:35 - The Pensées1:18:30 - Pascal’s “Two Minds”1:22:39 - The Importance of Boredom1:26:58 - Why Should Atheists Read Pascal?1:31:34 - What Would Graham Ask Pascal?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

immerse yourself in Herbal Essence's new Moroccan Argon Oil elixir, infused with pure

0:07.1

argon oil. Just one drop delivers up to 100 hours of hair nourishment with the indulgent

0:14.3

scent of a Moroccan garden. Herbal Essence's new Moroccan Argon Oil Elixir, spark quality hair repair without the price tag. Try it now. Herbal Essence's new Moroccan Argon Oil Elixir. Spar quality hair repair without the price tag.

0:23.3

Try it now.

0:24.4

Herbal.

0:25.2

Essences.

0:26.2

Service repair to smoothness, nourishment with a regimen use versus non-conditioning shampoo.

0:30.1

Graham Tomlin, welcome to the show.

0:32.2

Alex, nice to be here.

0:33.5

You know, yesterday I decided I wanted to have a physical copy of this book, your biography, your book on Blaze Pascal.

0:41.6

And so I went to a bookshop to find this.

0:44.1

And I walked into a Waterstones, which for Americans is like a Barnes & Noble.

0:48.2

And I looked in the biography section and I couldn't find it.

0:52.5

So I asked them about it and they said, oh, maybe you should go and check philosophy.

0:56.1

I said, okay, so I went and had a look and got there, couldn't find it either. So we thought, well, I thought, I'll check theology. Maybe it's in there. And I had a look and I couldn't find it. I knew it was in stock. They sent me up the road to a different store. And I went in there and I had a look again

1:10.4

and they looked on their computer and said,

1:12.1

you know, the last we saw of this book,

1:13.8

it was in the astronomy section. Astronomy. I said, what's it doing? Okay, I was fine. So I went and had a look and I couldn't find it. And then the helpful woman behind the desk ran around the shop and finally found it in the science section of the bookshop. And as all of this was happening, I began to realize that this is something of a testament

1:30.5

to the inability of people to categorize and define a man like Blaise Pascal.

1:37.1

So if that bookshop were to phone you up and say, being something of an expert on the guy. Yeah.

1:44.6

How would you categorize a man like Blaise Pascal?

1:46.9

What would you say to them?

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alex J O'Connor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Alex J O'Connor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.