O ceticismo aporético nas Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas de Machado de Assis

Abstract

The general purpose of the present masters dissertation is to verify the pertinence of the interpretation of Machadean skepticism in The Posthumous Memories of Bras Cubas as aporetic. Such a skepticism would be characterized by giving more importance to the examination of a problem rather than to its resolution. Machado sketches conjectures which describe the paradoxical relationships between human beings. In this way, the contradiction lived by the Machadean characters and the undecidability in the determination of their positions by the reader may be interpreted as manifestations of an aporetic skepticism. The main ways by which apories are brought about in the text are listed: the ideological crossroads, the narrators crossroads, the readers crossroads and the mistery concerning the existence of the enigma itself. The ways by which apories are in effect in the Machadean novel coincide, at their starting point, with the Brazilian ideological conflict in the XIXth century, and, at their arrival point, with the hermeneutical conflict concerning the reflexion about the noves methods and composition instruments. Although focussed on The Posthumous Memories, the aporetic perspective suggests that the philosophical interpretations of the Machadean work may be considered as partial, allowing their use in order to better visualize the effects of the various meanings of aporia which are applicable to the analysis. This also suggests that the proposed interpretation may be turned into a more general reflexive method about how would it be possible to philosophically approach a literary work. Considering the similarities and differences between the various interpretations, the aporetic perspective would function as a support to them all.