Modern Languages
Philosophers, Prophets, and Mystics in French Culture
- Overview
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Philosophers, Prophets, and Mystics in French Culture (MLF3078)
15 credits
On the night of 23 November 1654, one of the most brilliant mathematicians and scientists of all time, Blaise Pascal, had a vision that he recorded in a short note: ‘Fire – God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars’. This intense religious experience altered the course of Pascal’s life and led him to write his celebrated Pensées. You will study an eclectic range of texts that engage with philosophy, prophecy, and mysticism, from the notorious predictions of Nostradamus to comic prophecies by Rabelais, as well as the thought of Montaigne, Pascal, and Diderot, to conclude with Verne’s playful yet scientifically prescient account of a manned trip to the moon.
