Pere Lluís Font, believing in miracles

It is excellent news to be awarded the Honorary Prize for Catalan Literature in Pere Lluís Font, a thinker who personifies the conviction that rigor is a form of courtesy towards fellow citizens: this can be seen in the interview which Ignasi Aragay writes in this diary, a piece that he enjoys reading.

The introduction by Pere Lluís Font to the volume Thoughts and pamphlets by Blaise Pascal, translated by himself and published by Adesiara publishing house just over three years ago, is one of the best essays ever written on this giant of Western thought in Catalonia and throughout the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, this book must be considered a true cultural event: incorporating all of Pascal into Catalan in a reliable edition is a duty that any language of culture must fulfill. This contribution must be added to Font's works on Kant, Descartes, Montaigne, and Ramon Sibiuda (of whom Montaigne wrote a delightful apology; there is a Catalan translation by Jaume Casals, in Edicions 62). Or in his reflections on Christian thought in the poetry of Joan Maragall.

Pascal intended to provide proof of the credibility of Christianity as a system for understanding the world (the cosmos), and Pere Lluís Font stops to emphasize that, among these proofs, the French philosopher cites miracles: "No one should be surprised that I believe - notes Font, and adds - as Hobbes and Des believe in moderate Christianity." That is to say: what now seems to us to be a double condition of Pascal, as a mathematician and as a thinker of religion, as a scientist and as a humanist, is in fact a single coherent reality that allows the author of the Thoughts believe in miracles. There is a beautiful ironic note in this "no one should be surprised", which Font reinforces with quotes from Blaise Pascal himself: "No one is as happy as a true Christian; neither as reasonable nor as virtuous nor as kind." Or: "Moses promises that God will circumcise their hearts to make them capable of loving him", followed by: "A word from David, or from Moses, as if God will circumcise their hearts makes one judge his spirit. Although all his other speeches were ambiguous and doubtful of being philosophical or Christian, finally one word of this nature determines all the others." We can add one of the thoughts One of the most famous Pascalians: "I'd rather be wrong believing in a God who doesn't exist than not believing in a God who does exist." All of this helps us understand how Pascal thought, but also Pere Lluís Font, a disciple of Paul Ricoeur and, therefore, in a way, an intellectual relative of Mircea Eliade.

In an age of fake patriotism and stagnation, when any pretender dares to sign his depositions as a philosopher, Pere Lluís Font offers a solid and profound work of thought that extols the language in which it is written and the country where it was written. Although he smiles and says it's not that big a deal, the Honorary Prize couldn't have been more fitting.