This is philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel War Burton.

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Gamble on God. If he exists and you don't believe in him you may end up

in eternal damnation. If he doesn't exist or you've lost very little.

It's a fair bet that you've heard of Pascal's wager. It was

set out in his posthumously published thoughts, The Ponsays. But Ben Rogers, author of a book on Pascal, says the French 17th century genius ought to be celebrated

also for his penetrating analysis of the human condition.

Ben Rogers, welcome to Frostview Bites.

Thank you. Hello.

We're going to focus on Blaze Pascal's Ponse.

I wonder if you could begin by saying who Blaze Pascal was?

Pasgar was born in 1623,

and he was recognized even his own life

as a preeminent of scientist, mathematician.

We now don't take so much notice of his scientific achievements.

He's really remembered above all for the Ponsei, which he wrote a few years before his death in

1662.

We shouldn't pass over his scientific achievement because he did make an amazing calculating machine didn't he?

He did he was both I mean I suppose unusual even in his own day in being both an extraordinary mathematician but also an experimenter and great gift for creating things a very practical turn of mind.

But he was also highly religious and that's a force that comes through the pence, his thoughts.

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