“UM NADA EM RELAÇÃO AO INFINITO”: O ANIQUILAMENTO NA COMPARAÇÃO PASCALIANA

In both the Pensées and in his mathematical works, Pascal makes reference to nothingness, as well as to a process that we could call “annihilation” (following the term of the fragment Sellier 680, Lafuma 418), according to which what is finite becomes a nothingness with regard to infinity. Pascal’s “nothingness”, according to the interpretation defended here, may have, in different passages of the author’s work, a relative meaning or an absolute meaning, which is also valid for the terms “infinity”, “disproportion” and “indivisible” in Pascal’s works. Besides the value of such an analysis for the Pensées, we aim to show certain structural proximity between the mathematical and apologetic works of Pascal.