Pascal

and sent to an unfamiliar land where he met a new race of people who considered him to be not a person, but property. Olaudah Equiano was eventually purchased by a man named Michael Henry Pascal. Pascal brings Equiano with him to England with the intention of presenting him as a gift. With a change of mind, Pascal then decides to keep his new slave and gives him the name Gustavus Vassa. Equiano remembered, “I at that time began to understand him a little, and refused to be called so, and told…

wager. It is not optional”. Lastly, I will be responding to that criticism, since I am agreeing with Pascal’s premise. Pascal’s wager consists of the following premises: the first premise is, “If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible”. Pascal is stating that God rather exists or He does not. He says we are not capable of knowing or understanding of who He is. It is impossible to…

that erupts at the police van in one of the early scenes of the film, where an Althusserian police interpellation triggers an unpleasant exchange between Pascal (Regi’s brother) and a policewoman, with Régis getting involved later, criticizing Pascal for having been argumentative against the authority: -Policewoman: What’s your name? Speak up -Pascal: I talk how I…

times more likely. That implicitly employs the principle stating that the chances of an event depend of the number of ways in which it can occur. The scientist that could show how to calculate the number of ways in which something can occur was Blaise Pascal. In 1654 he was challenged with the problem if two players who have equal chances to win end the game with one of the players in the lead, what would be the fairest way to divide the pot. Problem like this comes up in any area of life in…

Summary 4: On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt Not many have ventured into finding a true definition for bullshit. Most people encounter bullshit on an almost daily basis. It comes in many shapes and forms and it is often employed loosely, with no general meaning (Frankfurt 1). The Oxford English Dictionary does however have an entry for bullshit. It also has many entries for bull and other similar words. One of the words that could be analogous to “bullshit” is the word, “Humbug”. In an essay…

abolish slavery. The first historically accurate location of Equiano in America was in Virginia where he was purchased by Henry Pascal an officer of the British Navy (). Pascal renamed him Gustav Vasa (). Under Pascal Equiano traveled to places like London, England. While in London England Pascal placed Equiano into the service of the army during the Seven Years war (). Pascal promised Equiano he would set him free after the war but ended up selling him to someone else (). Eventually in…

Pascal’s wager is one of Blaise Pascal’s, a 17th century French philosopher and mathematician, most famous works. It is included in the work titled Pensees (thoughts) and was published posthumously in 1670. According to Pascal one cannot come to the knowledge of God’s existence through reason alone, therefore one should live life as if God does exist, and if he does indeed exist then we have gained heaven. If god doesn’t exist, then we have lost nothing. Although let’s just say god does exist,…

Olaudah Equiano was a famous African in London who had supported the British movement to end slave trading. Olaudah is known for his famous 1789 autobiography, which described his experience as a slave. The autobiography, The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, goes into detail of his experience of when he was kidnapped and sold to slave traders. Olaudah was one of millions of Africans who were taken from his homeland and sold into slavery.…

peace and the end of the Seven Years War, Equiano was delighted at the thought of collecting his prize money and receiving his freedom from his master Captain Pascal. Although Pascal hadn’t promised him freedom, Equiano felt assured that he had no right to detain him since he was baptized and served him well for many years. However, Pascal feared that Equiano had plans of escape and without warning, sold him to another Captain, Mr. James Doran, therefore condemning Equiano to further years of…

In this essay I will be explicating a handful of philosophical theories to determine which one is best. I will analyze the controversies and counter arguments of each theory starting with Pascal’s Wager, followed by the Cosmological Argument, and finally the Argument from Evil. Pascal’s Wager, the belief that people must choose whether or not to bet on God’s existence, is the most sound argument making it superior to the others. Pascal’s Wager begins by examining nature. He argues that “We…