The term 'art of persuasion' is one used by Pascal himself in a section of his De l'esprit géométrique. Although he is careful to stress that it is not within his remit to speak of divine truths (OC II , 171), many of the questions he poses in De l'esprit géométrique about how people are most effectively convinced by particular arguments form a fundamental part of the persuasive design of his Pensées. At every juncture Pascal seems to refuse oversimplification, constantly attempting to view issues from many different angles. Therein lies the great originality of the Pensées. Far from being a traditional apologia of the Christian religion, it not only confronts but also assumes many of the ideas held by those sceptics and non-believers at whom the work is generally thought to be targeted.

Much critical attention has been paid to Pascal’s use of persuasive language. Indeed, the way in which he both has recourse to rhetorical techniques and reacts against traditional rhetoric exemplifies the difficulties of his persuasive task. Arnauld and Nicole write in their Logique of ‘the late M. Pascal who knew as much about true rhetoric as anybody has ever known’, and this is indicative of their belief that much of the rhetoric which was taught at the (primarily Jesuit) schools in France was false. Far from being anti-rhetoric per se, those at Port-Royal were opposed to what they deemed to be the abuse of rhetoric. It is this abuse that Pascal himself contrasts with the notion of true eloquence in his statement in the Pensées that ‘la vraie ´eloquence se moque de l’éloquence [true eloquence has no time for eloquence]’ (L 513/ S 671).