思想与假面——帕斯卡的赌注

Thought and Mask:Pascal’s Wager

帕斯卡一直是不断遭到忽视与误解的哲学家之一。本文从哲学史上著名的、也是常被误读的(即从宗教信仰或概率论角度进行读解)"帕斯卡打赌"(Pascal's wager)问题着手,并与黑格尔、尼采、海德格尔等人的相关问题进行比照,试图在当代西方哲学的思想视阈中对帕斯卡进行某种意义上的正名与全新的阐释。本文以"何谓思想"为根本问题,并建议采用"假面"(mask)这一概念为潜在契机对思想之谱系进行拓扑学式的描述(而非界定或分析)。通过对哲学史上的三种主要的假面形态进行的一种分类学考察,我们将找到帕斯卡打赌的真正意义及其与后世哲学家(如黑格尔和尼采)之间的内在关联,正是在这种交互式的"共振"当中,我们得以洞见帕斯卡所带来的一种别样的差异思想。

Blaise Pascal has been one of the most ignored and misunderstood philosophers in history. This paper takes the famous and always misread 'Pascal’s wager' (in respect of religious faith or the theory of probability) as the point of departure, gives a comparison of some relevant problems proposed by Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger, and tries to offer a new interpretation and the true identity of Pascal in the perspective of contemporary philosophy. Through asking 'What is thought?' as the fundamental question, the paper also advances the concept of 'mask' as a virtual means to describe topologically (other than definition or analysis) the pedigree of thought. Through a taxonomical exploration of the three main types of mask in the history of philosophy, the paper discovers the true meanings of Pascal’s wager and its essential relation to later philosophers such as Hegel and Nietzsche. It is in such mutual 'resonance' that an absolutely different thought contributed by Pascal has been revealed.