A dialogue of Blaise Pascal and Thomas Aquinas regarding the existence of God

As a minor member of the research team involved in the original design of the device (very minor. I was the one in charge of Coffee Unit 26–the only unit to make it through the entire project without any maintenance difficulties!), I was not given access to the Personality Simulator One (PSOne) until late summer, 2068. Most of my colleagues had already simulated the most important historical personalities in the three years since the PSOne had come online, and in all honesty they performed a far better job than I could ever have hoped to accomplish. So it was with resignation that I perused the remaining list of historical figures in an attempt to find personalities who were important enough to bother with while simultaneously being documented in enough detail to produce a decent simulation. My selections? Blaise Pascal and Thomas Aquinas. As a philosophical-theistic-media-analysis minor, I had always been fascinated by their separate attempts to philosophically analyze the existence/nonexistence of God, and my involvement with the PSOne represented an ideal opportunity.

Blaise Pascal, the son of a lawyer/mathematician, was born in Clermont, France in 1623 and is more famous as a mathematician, inventor and scientist in his own right than as a philosopher. Throughout his life he had always been a very clever and pragmatic man, with rational and scientific inquiry being his modus operandi of choice. But following a carriage accident at the age of 31 he began publishing anonymous letters regarding religious philosophy. (O’Connor) His mathematically logical mind helped his arguments on religion to be particularly penetrating. It seemed, from reading his collected thoughts, that his mind looked from his secular and rational roots towards religion. This is the direct opposite of my second subject, Thomas Aquinas.

The second selection for the simulator, Thomas Aquinas, was a very different kind of man entirely. Born centuries earlier, in 1225, near Naples, Italy, Aquinas spent his entire life immersed in the religious establishment. He was tutored by a formidable and encyclopedic teacher named Albert and under his instruction proceeded to become at first acquainted with and then attracted to Aristotle’s thoughts. Since he was a very religious man, he sought to reconcile the teachings of his favored classical philosopher with his own theological beliefs. (Stumpf, 176-178) From this he developed an interesting set of rational arguments seeking to justify his pre-set faith. Therefore, Aquinas presented an interesting contrast to my first subject, Pascal, in that he seemed to be looking from religious roots towards rationalism.

In any case, it took me months to compile a personality profile for the two. Starting with their collected first person works and proceeding with second hand accounts and empirical biographical information, I fed the PSOne data on the two subjects until it indicated that it was ready to go.

The Pascal simulation was brought online with a subjective age of 40, the year after his real death. (O’Connor) This allowed for his simulated self to be able to recall all of his collective writings and accomplishments without presenting him with confusion or deja-vu artifacting. (my colleague, Fred Peterson, attempted to simulate Mark Twain at an age before his descent into bitterness and produced an unqualified failure; one which I had no desire to repeat.) I placed Pascal’s simulation on a bench in a European church, one of the few environments I believed both subjects would feel comfortable within.

Second into the simulation was Thomas Aquinas at a chronologically subjective 50 years of age, also shortly after his real death. He was placed on a bench nearby the simulated Pascal. To make the subjects comfortable, they were both made to wear simple monks’ habits. As a point of vanity and convenience, I gave each man my own face–there were no mirrors in the cathedral, so neither man would notice. Bandages were also placed on their heads and each was given a slight headache.

The PSOne indicated that both personalities had been brought online and were “looking” around in wonder and confusion. Aquinas gazed at his surroundings, a church he had visited and stayed at many times while in Rome, and then examined his strange companion. “How did I get here? I was...sick?” (Stumpf 178)

“In truth, I do not know you, man. And I do now know how I came to be here myself, or even where we are,” Blaise looked down at his clothes and then back toward Aquinas with interest. “All I know is that we wear monk’s robes, and sit in a church. My name is Blaise. Who might you be?”

“My name is Thomas. And I can help on where we are. This is the church of Santa Sabina, in Rome!” (Badenhorst) Aquinas spread his arms wide and half turned, admiring the familiar architecture, “I have no idea why we are here, but my brothers have always been accomodating of visitors. No matter why we are here, you can be assured that we are in good hands with the Dominicans.”

“Ah, the Dominicans. I have heard of this place. It comforts me to hear that. But...why are we here?”

It was with trepidition that I then sent a non-descript avatar into the simulation under my direct control. In the form of a simple peasant boy dressed in rags, my avatar walked up to the two men and asked them one question: “Please, sirs. I know you are still recovering from your accident, but the brothers tell me you are good teachers. I know and fear God, but...how do I know God exists?”

Aquinas looked from the strange teen to his new companion and back again. “Accident, hmm? Well, I’m sure we’ll soon learn the truth of our situation. But the brothers must have been lax in their duties to have left a young one such as you in such a state of doubt! Or perhaps they sent you as a joke? No matter. This is as pleasant a way as any to pass the time, and I love to teach, it is true! Well, young one, what do you know of cause and effect?”

Directing the avatar to avert his eyes, I made him say tentatively, “Only that all effects follow causes.” Blaise, interest now piqued, looked to the avatar with interest.

Aquinas, in the voice of the experienced lecturer, continued, “Well then, it follows that all effects were preceded by causes, which were in themselves effects of earlier causes, right?” I had the avatar nod in acquiescence. “But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and consequently, no other mover, seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are moved by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is moved by the hand. It is, therefore, necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other. This first mover is God.” (Stumpf 669)

Blaise looked up in surprise and recognition at hearing these words of his new friend Thomas. “I have heard such an argument before, Thomas, in writings stored in a library by the brothers Jansen...but I have questions on it.”

The shabby youthful avatar forgotten for a moment, Aquinas’ eyebrows rose in curiosity and he turned to Blaise. “Well, and the writings of the Aquinas are wider spread than I had thought! Ask your questions, man. Perhaps I will teach two this afternoon!”

A deep breath by Pascal followed, and then Blaise began, “A first mover God, you speak of Thomas. Infinite movement, the point which fills everything, the moment of rest; infinite without quantity, indivisible and infinite. Necessary to provide existence with itself. Your analysis may seem sound, but it can only hint at the existence of a God.” his earnest face looked from Thomas’ eyes to the downcast visage of the avatar, “It is not sufficient to prove to our young man that the god is our God. I once wrote: ‘we know that there is an infinite, and are ignorant of its nature. As we know it to be false that numbers are finite, it is therefore true that there is an infinity in number. But we do not know what it is. It is false that it is even, it is false that it is odd; for the addition of a unit can make no change in its nature. Yet it is a number, and every number is odd or even (this is certainly true of every finite number). So we may well know that there is a God without knowing what He is.’ (Pensees,233) Reason is not, I think, allowed to reveal the true nature of God. He has hidden Himself from our knowledge, that this is in fact the name which He gives Himself in the Scriptures, Deus absconditus; [Is. 45. 15. "Thou art a God that hidest thyself."] (Pensees, 194)”

A shrug and a gesture toward the pulpit came from Aquinas, followed by, “You speak of

revelation. I posit that God exists, and that the knowledge of his existence is reachable through reason. His doctrines, however, are a matter of revelation. I agree, my new friend Blaise, that reason cannot know all of God. Indeed, it would be blasphemous to regard such knowledge as attainable through anything other than faith.” (Stumpf 181)

Pascal responded, “I would say that there is no way for a man capable of reason to so blithely embrace even such revelation.” He then stood, looking skyward, “Oh, how I wish this were not so for me. But my reason makes certainty of His existence, or indeed His non-existence, unattainable!”

Aquinas, feeling sorry for his companion and troubled by his seeming doubt, walked to his side and laid his hand upon his shoulder. “Blaise, God’s nature is revealed in a man’s heart, and if your reason is closing your heart then it is faulty. Faith alone....”

Shaking his head, Blaise covered Thomas’ hand with his own and looked into his elder’s eyes. He spoke urgently, “Ah, but Thomas, I do believe. I believe in Him, and His scripture. I have no reason not to, and every reason to do so! If God does not exist, one will lose nothing by believing in him, while if he does exist, one will lose everything by not believing. For this reason I believe I cannot afford to not believe in Christ and His church.”

Thomas withdrew his hand, and recoiled in shock. “This....this...idea of yours is crass self-interest! It is no more based on faith than the honor of a moneylender! If this..wager...is the basis of your belief, then you are a fool to think God would accept it as anything more than hypocrisy.”

“But, Thomas, we must choose either God or no God. We cannot fail to choose. I am merely showing you the mechanism of my choice. Is the choice any less valid for it? My faith is true. I know who my Redeemer is, Dominican! But if reason is used, and I cannot deny we have reason and neither, I believe, would you, then it will force us to decide thus!”

Aquinas, arms at his side, cocked his head and spoke, “I am not comfortable with this, friend Blaise. I feel your heart may be clouded somehow. Reason is inapplicable to matters of doctrine. My use of reason is only in the service of existence, and I believe my proofs to be sufficient for that.”

“Ah, but the proof you sited, that of first-mover, ignores the paradox of infinity! You would state that God chose to move and the world was created. But if God is infinite, and without a beginning, then He existed for eternity before his act of creation. But you cannot define a point on an infinite line! How could you say when He created if he is infinite?”

“Blaise, I would say that God created eternally. That He is eternally engaged in the act of creation. And that His creation is real is a matter of revealed faith.”

Blaise seemed to be considering. “A matter of revelation, then Thomas.” He turned his head from Aquinas to the youth. “God exists. You cannot afford to deny Him, but if you should be so careless with your soul to attempt to deny Him in any case...then think on what Thomas has said. Perhaps his arguments shall be sufficient for you, even though they are not for me.”

My time on the PSOne was nearing a close. I could hear the one-minute alarm behind me, and began drawing the shutdown sequence on the pad in front of me. But first, I sent a message to my avatar.

“Thank you, sirs. I must go, the brothers should be here soon...” and with that the avatar turned its too-skinny body and scampered out of the church.

Thomas Aquinas sat, folding his hands in his lap. “Friend Blaise, I wish to continue this conversation further. But first I would like very much to greet my brothers and learn why we are here.”

Blaise looked towards the exit the youth had just ran out of, wondering why he saw absolutely nothing through the briefly opened door and nodded absently. “There will be time for us to talk, I am sure.”

But he was wrong. PSOne froze the scene and began its record dump into my personal file. I sat back and wrote a few notes to myself. Pascal and Aquinas; both were men with faith that could move mountains. Where they differed was in their use of reason. Aquinas felt that reason could prove the existence of God with absolute assurance. Pascal felt that reason could not prove or disprove His existence definitively. Reason, he thought, would merely force a man to believe in God in order to avoid the possible consequences of being wrong. But, in the end, the two men both agree that God exists, and that Jesus is their savior. I can safely disregard much of Aquinas’ logic due to the scientific debunking of his evidence, and Pascal’s wager is faulty in that it ignores any possibilities in-between the absolute denial and the complete acceptance of the Christian revelation. So, in the end, I didn’t agree with either man. But the conversation was one I felt made the whole procedure worthwhile. I had a paper to write!

As I left the lab, I passed a graduate student heading into the PSOne lab. I know him, and have heard he plans on resurrecting Gregory Heins and Fred Astaire for some crazy virtual dance competition. I cannot help wondering what sorts of revelations he might be after....

Works Cited

Badenhorst, Martin OP. “A Tour of Santa Sabina in Rome” Order of Preachers(Dominicans) [Online] 1999 URL

O'Connor, J J and Robertson, E F. "Blaise Pascal" The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive [Online] December 1996. URL

Pascal, Blaise. “Pensees” Great Voyages:History of Western Philosophy from 1492 to 1776 [Online] Winter 1997. URL

Stumpf, Samuel Enoch. “The Apex of Medieval Philosophy: The Scholastic System of St. Thomas Aquinas” Philosophy:History and Problems Fifth Ed, 175-199

Stumpf, Samuel Enoch. “Proving God’s Existence from Experience” Philosophy:History and Problems Fifth Ed, 668-670

¶ 9:58 PM