The waiting of Pascal and the waiting of Bergson: establishing a dialogue between Gilda de Mello e Souza, David Lapoujade e Franklin Leopoldo e Silva

Abstract

In his article on Pascal and Bergson, Franklin Leopoldo e Silva seeks to compare the two thinkers, reaching some points of convergence that, at their core, would orbit around a notion - distinct to each, yet presente in both - of intuition as contact with the Totality. Having this article by Leopoldo e Silva as a framework, we will explore the proper meaning of this Totality for Pascal and for Bergson, emphasizing the issue in its temporal sense: for Pascal, it would be a Totality in its sense of eternity as a presence in God, whereas for Bergson, it would be in its sense of duration. Thus, the experience of temporality itself would gain a different connotation in each philosopher, and would distinctly qualify the movement towards the so-called Totality. Aiming at this final description, in which this movement towards Totality would connote a wait, we will seek to qualify such differences by invoking Gilda de Mello e Souza’s considerations on waiting in Pascal, in a critical essay on En attendant Godot by Samuel Beckett, and David Lapoujade on the waiting in Bergson, in his work Puissances du temps.