Note on a pensée (Brunschvicg 107): Pascal and Montaigne

Abstract

Incorrectly identified by editors since Brunschvicg, the source of Pascal's pensée “Lustravit lampade terras…” (Br 107), is found in Montaigne's essay “De l'inconstance de nos actions.” Contradicting Montaigne's statement that “se meuvent nos humeurs avecques les mouvemens du temps,” Pascal states that there is little connection between his mood and the weather. He goes on to probe the question in a self‐analytical notation like those that abound in Montaigne's Essais. Reflecting further, he notes that the success or failure of ‘les affaires' fails to upset his equilibrium: he remains detached from everyday happenings in a kind of stoic apatheia. In the second half of the pensée, he admits that at times he thrives on the challenge (gloire is the reward), to prove himself capable of shaping events to his ends. Ultimately, the train of thought set off by Montaigne's remark leads to a glimpse of that overweening pride Pascal strove to replace with humility. The fragment stands as an example of Pascal's indebtedness to Montaigne, whose Essais (as mirror) served to reveal le moi haïmlssable, chief obstacle on the path to spiritual perfection.