Lexicon and Semantics of Subsistence in Pascal

The aim of my study is to conduct a semantic study of Pascal's lexicon of subsistence by means of a search for occurrences of the lemmas subsister (in its various forms), subsistence and subsistent. The analysis that I develop here shows that the prevailing meaning of this lexicon into Pascal's corpus is not metaphysical: > indicates the permanence of something despite difficulties. The fragments of the Pens & eacute;es on the prophecies also reveal that the source of this meaning is biblical; moreover, they allow us to identify a deeper historical-salvific meaning. For this reason, Pascal's lexicon of subsistence would seem to reveal much more than a biblical origin: it seems to refer directly to the expression >, which in fact refers to the permanence of the testamentum across generations and ordeals.