Ennui and the Turn to Thinking Rightly

• In Event: Pascal's Politics

Abstract

Had Pascal lived long enough to write the Pensées in full, the primary goal of his apologetics would have been to convince the typical honnête homme to turn toward the Christian faith. Through the Pensées, we can get a glimpse of the various mechanizations Pascal would have used to turn people away from foolish diversions and toward the search for God. Much of the scholarship thus far has identified two primary reasons why the honnête homme remains in his state of unbelief without questioning his faith: divertissement, or distraction, and ennui. This paper aims to explore the brief but significant manner in which Pascal describes the state of ennui. In this paper, I argue that ennui, in its capacity to stun man with the wretchedness of the self, can serve as that brief yet significant point at which the unbeliever begins to think rightly, thus acting as a crucial step for the average nonbeliever to turn to thinking about his end, and eventually, to turn to God. Ennui can thus be interpreted as a sort of miserable leisure and might serve as a significant step away from distraction and towards faith. This essay examines how ennui leads one to think rightly.

Author

• Julia G Mahoney, Boston College