View source for Pensées

==Publication history==
[[File:Blaise Pascal Versailles.JPG|thumb|Pascal]]
The {{lang|fr|Pensées}} is the name given posthumously to fragments that Pascal had been preparing for an [[Christian apologetics|apology]] for Christianity, which was never completed. That envisioned work is often referred to as the ''Apology for the Christian Religion'', although Pascal never used that title.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Alban John|last=Krailsheimer|author-link=d:Q18526350|chapter=Introduction|title=Pensées|year=1995|publisher=Penguin|isbn=0140446451|page=xviii}}</ref>

Although the {{lang|fr|Pensées}} appears to consist of ideas and jottings, some of which are incomplete, it is believed that Pascal had, prior to his death in 1662, already planned out the order of the book and had begun the task of cutting and pasting his draft notes into a coherent form. His task incomplete, subsequent editors have heavily disagreed on the order, if any, in which his writings should be read.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal/ Blaise Pascal], ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (accessed 2010-03-11)</ref> Those responsible for his effects, failing to recognize the basic structure of the work, handed them over to be edited, and they were published in 1670.{{sfn|Krailsheimer|1995|p=x}} The first English translation was made in 1688 by John Walker.<ref>[[Lorraine Daston|Daston, Lorraine]]. ''Classical Probability in the Enlightenment''. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988.</ref> Another English translation by W. F. Trotter was published in 1931 with an introduction by [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref>{{Gutenberg book|no=18269|name=Pascal's Pensées, with an introduction by T. S. Eliot|year=1958|orig-year=1931|publisher=E. P. Dutton|location=New York|bullet=none}}</ref>

Several attempts have been made to arrange the notes systematically; notable editions include those of [[Léon Brunschvicg]], [[Jacques Chevalier]], {{ill|Louis Lafuma|fr}} and (more recently) [[Philippe Sellier]]. Although Brunschvicg tried to classify the posthumous fragments according to themes, recent research has prompted Sellier to choose entirely different classifications, as Pascal often examined the same event or example through many different lenses. Also noteworthy is the monumental edition of Pascal's ''Œuvres complètes'' (1964–1992), which is known as the Tercentenary Edition and was realized by {{ill|Jean Mesnard|fr}};<ref>{{Cite book|title="Rien ne nous plaît que le combat": la campagne des Provinciales de Pascal|volume=1|first=Olivier|last=Jouslin|author-link=d:Q103140167|publisher=[[Blaise Pascal University]] Press|year=2007|page=781}}</ref> although still incomplete, this edition reviews the dating, history and critical bibliography of each of Pascal's texts.<ref>See in particular various works by {{ill|Laurent Thirouin|fr}}, for example "Les premières liasses des Pensées : architecture et signification", ''{{ill|XVIIe siècle|fr|XVIIe Siècle (revue)}}'', no. 177 (special Pascal), October–December 1992, pp. 451–468, or "Le cycle du divertissement, dans les liasses classées", ''Giornata di Studi Francesi'', "Les Pensées de Pascal : du dessein à l’édition", Rome, [[Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta]], 11–12 October 2002.</ref>

The [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]] forbade its printing or reading, as it conflicts with the orthodoxy of the [[Catholic Church]].{{efn|1=[https://beta.nb.no/extrip/beacon/result?query=blaise&country=8052&mode=all&pagesize=50 Beacon for Freedom of Expression search for Pascal]}}