Pascal and the American Dream

The American Dream that has shaped and defined the United States’ path during its existence has been founded on the idea that through hard work and determination one can elevate their socioeconomic status. The founding fathers wrote that the basis of this dream is founded on self-evident truths. However, mankind has been grappling with this idea of “truth” long before fifty-six men gathered in a hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ancient philosophers like Socrates believed that in order to discover truth you must forget everything you thought you knew. In other words: put aside your preconceived notions long enough to consider that you might be wrong. This approach started many philosophers to ask the question, “How then do we discover truth?” Two men who took drastically different approaches to reach the ultimate goal of discovering truth were René Descartes and Blaise Pascal. Descartes believed that in order to reach truth, one must set aside any emotion and faith possessed and rely solely on logic and reasoning to come to the ultimate truth of God’s existence, while Pascal taught that although God’s existence was logical, faith was still required to believe even the soundest argument for His existence.

Descartes in his book A Discourse on the Method records his step-by-step process of how he came to find the truth. First, he establishes that every human has the same amount of reason, which sets us apart from animals. Then, he discusses that a city that is created from a single design is more beautiful than one pieced together and how this applies to laws as well. He comes to the conclusion that this concept must apply to man also. He describes his approach to this method, “But like a man walking by himself in the dark, I made the decisions to go so slowly and to exercise the caution in everything that even if I made very little progress, I would at least be sure not to fall.” (Descartes 16) Because Descartes could only depend on himself, he was aware that it would be easy to create false arguments founded on his own biases, so, along with a moral code, he created some rules: to only accept evident truths, to separate large problems into smaller, more manageable ones, to progress from simple to complex, and to continually review the arguments he has come up with. All of this was required because he had torn down his original beliefs that had guided him in the effort to find the truth and needed a method to keep him from erring now that he had gotten rid of his original beliefs and religion. Throughout the rest of his discourse, he puts aside his feelings and faith to come to the conclusion, “I am thinking therefore I exist.” (Descartes 28) thereby further stressing his belief in the logic and rational approach to truth.

Pascal, however, believed the only way to truth was through a firm belief in God. He says in his book Human Happiness, “Man without faith can know either true good nor justice.” (Pascal 39) Faith is the first step to living a life that is happy. Descartes focused on a physical approach to truth while Pascal embraced the spiritual. He believed that experience is deceiving and that “God alone is man’s true good, and since man abandoned Him it is a strange fact that nothing in nature has been found to take His place… Since losing his true good, man is capable of seeing it in anything, even his own destruction.” (Pascal 40) He goes on to say that to do so is contrary not only to God but also to reason and nature as well. A mind without God is a weak mind. He showed in his writings that God’s existence is evident in everything we see and that to doubt Him would require the same amount of faith as it would to believe. His main point is that regardless of how logical and rational one could be in their approach to discovering the truth, faith would still be required.

Although their goal was the same, the method that both Descartes and Pascal took were drastically different from each other. Descartes attempted to find truth independently, but he states in his discourse that each person must follow their own path to this destination. He says that he had often “explained some of my opinions to people endowed with very fine minds, and who, as I was telling them about them, seemed to understand them very clearly, yet when they repeated them back to me, I noticed that they had nearly always changed them in such a way that I could no longer acknowledge them as my own. I should like here to take this opportunity of asking future generations never to believe that I am the source of the opinions people may tell them are mine.” (Descartes 57) He saw what happened to Aristotelians and how they had corrupted and twisted Aristotle’s teachings to the point that it led them to error. What sets Descartes’ and Pascals’ teachings apart is that because Descartes’ method is founded on humanity it can become distorted and false while Pascals’ teaching, although it can be misinterpreted, can’t be distorted because it is at its core founded on God, who remains steadfast regardless of man’s interpretation of Him.

The founding fathers followed Pascal’s method, establishing a country on God’s teaching, being aware that He is the only path to truth. The collapse of the American dream that we can see in today’s society is caused by Americans abandoning Pascal’s reliance of faith and following Descartes’ discourse; however, instead of relying on rational thinking, they view their emotions and feelings as logic and facts. This method that they are following cannot lead to truth and will instead elevate their beliefs to that of a god. Until we as a nation come to know that “it is wretched to know that one is wretched, but there is greatness in knowing one is wretched” (Pascal 21) and that we are ultimately flawed and will remain flawed until we allow God to fix us, we will never see the American dream in the same way that our founding fathers did.