°Force, law and habit
Blaise Pascal, born June 19, 1623. For Derrida, it was Pascal’s (or is it actually Montaigne’s?) notion of the mystical foundation of the law that was of interest, citing this at the beginning of “Force of Law: The Mystical Foundation of Authority’”: “And so laws keep up their good standing, not because they are just, but because they are laws: that is the mystical foundation of their Authority.” For Althusser, it was Pascal’s materialist understanding of ideology (or belief): “‘Kneel down, move your lips in prayer, and you will believe.” Both those readings of Pascal have appealed to me before, but I thought that they both missed this aspect: “Three degrees of latitude reverse all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth.”
{Sorry about that. Links now fixed}
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