Abstract: The aim of this article, which focuses on Pascal’s Thoughts, is to examine the presence of neologisms in the papers which the philosopher left on his death. It may be postulated that a new word or a new usage of a word can reveal much the way Pascal viewed the world.
The first stage in addressing this question is to look into how far chance, mistakes or even necessity contribute to bringing these neologisms into being. Then the theoretical criteria and principles which allow us to distinguish between formal and semantic neologisms are then set out. From these principles the question is raised to find out in how far Pascal’s neologisms are used as powerful instruments of semantic cohesion.
