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WHAT IS THE SELF? IMITATION AND SUBJECTIVITY IN BLAISE PASCAL'S PENSÉES
Author(s) -
WOOD WILLIAM
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0025.2010.01616.x
Subject(s) - subjectivity , philosophy , metaphysics , performative utterance , imitation , pascal (unit) , epistemology , portrait , theology , psychology , art history , social psychology , art , physics , quantum mechanics
I aim to develop a fully theological, yet still Pascalian account of human subjectivity. Exegetically, I argue that the Pensées themselves present two such accounts. The first account is a portrait of fallen subjectivity, selfhood under the reign of sin. The second account is a portrait of authentic subjectivity. This latter account is explicitly Christological and even Trinitarian. Constructively, I argue that Pascal's two accounts show that our subjectivity is performative and imitative: whether under sin or under grace, to be a self is to imitate God.