Blaise Pascal on Duplicity, Sin, and the Fall : The Secret Instinct PDF
Preview Blaise Pascal on Duplicity, Sin, and the Fall : The Secret Instinct
CHANGING PARADIGMS IN HISTORICAL AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY GeneralEditors SarahCoakleyRichardCross Thisseriessetsouttoreconsiderthemoderndistinctionbetween“historical” and “systematic” theology. The scholarship represented in the series is marked by attention to the way in which historiographic and theological presumptions (“paradigms”) necessarily inform the work of historians of Christian thought, and thus affect their application to contemporary concerns. At certain key junctures such paradigms are recast, causing a reconsideration of the methods, hermeneutics, geographical boundaries, or chronological caesuras which have previously guided the theological narrative.Thebeginningofthetwenty-firstcenturymarksaperiodofsuch notable reassessment of the Christian doctrinal heritage, and involves a questioning of the paradigms that have sustained the classic “history-of- ideas” textbook accounts of the modern era. Each of the volumes in this series brings such contemporary methodological and historiographical concerns to conscious consideration. Each tackles a period or key figure whosesignificanceisripeforreconsideration,andeachanalysestheimplicit historiographythathassustainedexistingscholarshiponthetopic.Avariety of fresh methodological concerns are considered, without reducing the theological to other categories. The emphasis is on an awareness of the history of “reception”: the possibilities for contemporary theology are bound up with a careful rewriting of the historical narrative. In this sense, “historical” and “systematic” theology are necessarily conjoined, yet also closelyconnectedtoadiscerninginterdisciplinaryengagement. ThismonographseriesaccompaniestheprojectofTheOxfordHandbookof theReceptionofChristianTheology(OUP,inprogress),alsoeditedbySarah CoakleyandRichardCross. CHANGING PARADIGMS IN HISTORICAL AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY General Editors: Sarah Coakley (Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge) and Richard Cross (John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy,UniversityofNotreDame) recentseriestitles Calvin,Participation,andtheGift TheActivityofBelieversinUnionwithChrist J.ToddBillings NewmanandtheAlexandrianFathers ShapingDoctrineinNineteenth-CenturyEngland BenjaminJ.King OrthodoxReadingsofAquinas MarcusPlested KantandtheCreationofFreedom ATheologicalProblem ChristopherJ.Insole Blaise Pascal on Duplicity, Sin, and the Fall The Secret Instinct WILLIAM WOOD 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversitypressintheUKandincertainothercountries #WilliamWood2013 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2013 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable ISBN 978–0–19–965636–3 Asprintedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY Acknowledgments Inoneformoranother,Ihavebeenworkingthroughtheideasinthis bookforwelloveradecade,andalongthewayIhaveaccumulateda greatmanydebts,bothintellectualand(alas)financial.Straightaway Iwanttothankmyparents,HoraceandSandraWood,forsupporting me, in all senses of that word, for my entire life, even when they probablyshouldn’thave.Iamprofoundlygratefultothem. MyfirstencounterwithPascalwasinaclasscalled“Luther,Calvin, andPascalontheHiddenGod,”taughtbySusanSchreinerandDavid Tracy at the University of Chicago Divinity School in the Winter of 1999. I was required to hand in a ten-page paper onPascal. Months later (as is the custom at Chicago), when I finally got around to writing it, I found that once I started, I couldn’t stop. I wrote draft afterdraft,neverquitesatisfiedthatIhadcometogripswithPascal, but also far too absorbed to stop. Eventually, I decided to stop stopping, and that modest seminar paper grew into my doctoral exam paper, then my dissertation, and now this book. So thanks to SusanSchreinerandDavidTracyforofferingtheclass. I next wish to thank my dissertation advisor, Chris Gamwell, and themembersofmydissertationcommittee,KathrynTannerandPaul Griffiths.Theyweretheperfectcommittee:theyfrequentlydisagreed with each other, and with me, and between the three of them, they knowjustabouteverything,buttheywereallincrediblygenerousand kind.Ilearnedsomuchfromthem. SarahCoakleyinvitedmetogiveapaperonPascaltotheDSociety in Cambridge, and when I survived the experience (barely!), she suggested that I submit a manuscript to this series. She has been an invaluable interlocutor and all-around source of wisdom during my timeinOxford,andIampleasedandgratefultofindmyselfsuddenly inherorbit. I would also like to thank my colleagues, students, and friends in Oxford.IpresentedaversionofChapter3totheUniversityofOxford Modern Theology Seminar, and received very useful feedback, espe- ciallyfromJohannesZachhuber,JoelRassmussen,TimMawson,and Philip Endean. I presented a version of Chapter2 to the Cardinal AllenSocietyofOrielCollege.Ithankallthoseinattendancefortheir vi Acknowledgments challenging questions. Many thanks as well—and for so much—to MadhaviNevader.IalsothankBrianLeftowforadvice,support,and conversationsaboutNFLfootball. IhopethatKarinMeyerswillalwaysbeoneof thefirst readersof anythingthatIwrite.Ivalueherinsightsandfriendshipenormously. Ed Upton and Lea Schweitz also offered valuable suggestions, and MarsauraShuklaandClaireBowencommentedondissertation-stage drafts.Ithankthemall. Finally, special thanks to Gillian Hamnett, who read the entire manuscript at short notice. The book is much better as a result of hersuggestions. I have been supported by a William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship and a Martin E. Marty Center Dissertation Fellowship, bothfromtheUniversityofChicago,aswellasapostdoctoralfellow- shipfromtheCenterforPhilosophyofReligion,UniversityofNotre Dame.Ithankbothinstitutions.Someofthematerialinthisbookhas appeared in two published essays: “What is the Self? Imitation and Subjectivity in Blaise Pascal’s Pensées,” Modern Theology, 26 (2010), 417–36; and “Axiology, Self-Deception and Moral Wrongdoing in BlaisePascal’sPensées,”JournalofReligiousEthics,37(2009),107–36. Iamgratefulforpermissiontoreusethatmaterialhere. Contents Introduction 1 TheSecretInstinct 2 TheFall,Self-Knowledge,andtheAversionfortheTruth 5 SinandSelf-Deception 9 Sin,Paradox,andSelf-Estrangement 12 OutlineoftheArgument 14 InterpretingPascalontheFallintoDuplicity 15 1. TheEvaluativeFall:DisorderedLoveandthe AversiontoTruth 19 Pascal’sAugustinianAnthropology:Amour-Propre andPride 20 FromPridetoDisorderedLove 25 TheEvaluativeFall 30 TheEvaluativeFallandtheCycleofDesire 34 Rapport,Truth,andAttractiveness 38 EnnuiandDiversionasSignsoftheFallintoDuplicity 42 Objection:AmIReallySoUnhappy? 46 2. TheReignofDuplicity:Pascal’sPoliticalTheology 51 Imagination,Illusion,andPoliticalOrder 52 That“ProudPower”:Pascal’sCritiqueoftheImagination 57 ThePoliticalImaginationandtheDuplicitousSocialOrder 68 ThePretensesofPower 70 PoliticsasaDiversionfromTruth 76 BlaisePascal,CriticalTheorist 79 PoliticalProgress,TrueJustice,andtheChurch 87 3. TheImaginarySelfinaWorldofIllusion:Pascalonthe FallenHumanSubject 92 WhatistheSelf? 94 TheMoi:TheFalseSelf 97 TheMoiandSelf-Interpretation 105 WhatisitliketobeaFalseSelf?AnExamplefrom GeorgeEliot’sMiddlemarch 107 viii Contents NicholasBulstrodeasaPascalianMoi 111 ParodyingGodbyPerformingtheFalseSelf 117 4. SinandSelf-DeceptioninPascal’sMoralTheology 121 SinfulSelf-DeceptionasCulpableSelf-Persuasion 121 PascalonMoralWrongdoing:TheWiderContext 123 Self-DeceptiveMoralJudgmentsareInterpretive 125 PascalonMoralJudgment:TheHeart,Sentiment, andFinesse 129 TheImaginationBestowsValue 137 HowMoralReasoningGoesWrong:Self-Deception 140 Conclusion:WhatisSelf-Deception? 144 5. OnLyingtoOneself:AnalyticPhilosophyon Self-Deception 146 From“LyingToOneself”to“IrrationalBelief-Formation” 149 Paradox! 163 ParadoxesofAttentionandAwareness 169 “PerpetuallyHolisticSelf-Transparency” 172 Conclusion:PascalContraSelf-Transparency 176 6. APascalianModelofSinasSelf-Deception:Morally CulpableSelf-Persuasion 179 LyingtoOneselfasaFormofCulpableSelf-Persuasion 180 Persuasion,Reason,Rationalization 182 TheStepsofSelf-Persuasion 184 Self-Persuasion,Self-Deception,andHumanAgency 195 ParadoxDispelled 198 HowtoConstructaFalseSelf 204 Conclusion:Self-Deception,theFall,andtheHiddenness ofGod 209 7. TheWayBack:OnLovingtheTruth 212 GraceasPleasureandDelightintheGood 212 LovingtheTruthasaReligiousStance 215 SubjectivitywithoutDuplicity:TheTrueSelfImitatesChrist 217 TheFinalWord 225 Bibliography 227 Index 237 Introduction BlaisePascalonDuplicity,Sin,andtheFallpresentsPascal’saccount ofthecognitiveconsequencesoftheFall.Thecentralclaimisthatfor Pascal,theFallisafallintoduplicity.Heholdsthat,asfallenselvesin afallenworld,humanbeingshaveaninnateaversiontothetruththat isalso,atthesametime,anaversiontoGod.AccordingtoPascal,we are born into a duplicitous world that shapes us into duplicitous subjects,andsowefinditeasytorejectGodcontinuallyanddeceive ourselvesaboutourownsinfulness. ContemporarytheologianswhoturntoPascalwillfindanaccount ofthenoeticeffectsofsinthatisbothtraditionalandinnovative.1Itis traditional in that it is robustlyAugustinian, with a strong emphasis onthe fallen will, the darkened intellect, and the fundamental sin of pride.Yetitisinnovativeinthatitpresentsthenoeticeffectsofsinas bothpersonalandsocial,andtherebyembracesaviewofsubjectivity and human agency that seems strikingly contemporary. For Pascal, the self is itself a fiction, constructed from without by an already duplicitousworld. Itfollows thateven some ofthe seemingly“inter- ior” andcognitiveconsequences of theFall mustalso beunderstood as broadly social and external; similarly, some apparently social consequences of the Fall (like the fallen political order, for example) must be understood as broadly cognitive, since they reproduce and reinforcetheduplicitythatwefindattheheartofthehumansubject. ForPascal,boththefallenselfandthefallenworlddisplaythenoetic effectsofsin. 1 Iusetheexpressions“noeticeffectsofsin”and“cognitiveconsequencesofthe Fall”interchangeably.
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