Volition, Rhetoric, and Emotion in the Work of Pascal

This study identifies and analyzes a compelling theory and practice of persuasion that integrates the complexity of human desire. It demonstrates how the philosophical component in Pascal's description of the will makes a seamless integration into a vehicle of persuasion and poetics, providing a privileged viewpoint for understanding the author's complete works, arguing that the notion of will is of fundamental importance in Pascal's anthropology as well as in his rhetoric. This avenue of interpretation is both fruitful and difficult, because the word "volonte" means very different things in Pascal and in modern French. Beginning by contextualizing the notion of 'volonte' and explaining its expanded use in the seventeenth-century lexicon, the author then endeavors to show that Pascal borrows an essentially Augustinian paradigm of desire to create a depiction of the will divided against itself, surreptitiously yearning for what its bearer does not want.

ISBN 0415955505   Pages 242 ISBN13 9780415955508 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd   Weight (grammes) 466 Imprint Routledge   Published in London Format Hardback   Series title Studies in Philosophy Publication date 19 Dec 2007   Height (mm) 229 Library of Congress 2007026712   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 194   Spine width (mm) 18 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

Pt. 1		Freedom and the anatomy of the will		7
Ch. 1		The will's expanded lexicon and its seventeenth-century context		9
Ch. 2		Early modern free will		27
Pt. 2		The will and knowledge		73
Ch. 3		The interior regard of the will		75
Ch. 4		The will's effect on knowledge		95
Ch. 5		The rhetoric of uncertainty		129
Pt. 3		Will, wisdom, and eloquence		153
Ch. 6		Nonrepresentational truth, wisdom, and justice		155
		Conclusion		194
		Notes		197
		Bibliography		219
		Index		225

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