#149 Blaise Pascal: Philosopher, Mathematician, Genius - Graham Tomlin

#149 Blaise Pascal: Philosopher, Mathematician, Genius - Graham Tomlin

From Within Reason by Alex J O'Connor

March 25, 2026 · 1h 34m

About this episode

In this episode, Graham Tomlin discusses the life and contributions of Blaise Pascal, exploring his philosophical and mathematical genius.

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack .Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, author and former Church of England bishop. LINKS: Get Graham's book, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World Graham's organisation, Seen and Unseen TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Can Blaise Pascal Be Categorised?03:05 - Who Was Blaise Pascal?11:12 - Pascal’s First Conversion17:19 - Pascal’s “Night of Fire”21:59 - Did Pascal Reject Reason?31:45 - Pascal’s War With Descartes42:31 - Did Pascal Invent the Bus?45:42 - The Heart Has Its Reasons, Of Which Reason Knows Nothing50:03 - How Pascal Invented Probability Theory52:29 - Pascal’s Wager1:15:35 - The Pensées1:18:30 - Pascal’s “Two Minds”1:22:39 - The Importance of Boredom1:26:58 - Why Should Atheists Read Pascal?1:31:34 - What Would Graham Ask Pascal?

People in this episode

Host: Alex J O'Connor

Guest: Graham Tomlin

Topics covered

  • Blaise Pascal
  • philosophy
  • theology
  • mathematics
  • reason
  • probability theory

Keywords

  • Blaise Pascal
  • Graham Tomlin
  • philosophy
  • mathematics
  • Pascal's Wager
  • probability theory
  • theology

Sponsors

Huel

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Seen and Unseen

Books & works: Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World

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