Synthese

, Volume 192, Issue 8, pp 2379–2393 | Cite as

Infinity between mathematics and apologetics: Pascal’s notion of infinite distance

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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Blaise Pascal Infinity Infinite distance Heterogeneity Disproportion 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The financial support was done by CNPq.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Graduate Program, Department of PhilosophyUniversity of São PauloSão PauloBrazil

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