What It Is
Humanitas is the name that Quincas Borba (philosopher) gives to a single, indestructible substance that would be in all things and sum up the universe, because the universe is man. It is also the name of the doctrine, which he calls Humanitism and says he formulated, and which Rubião receives along with the money and the dog. The doctrine comes through the philosopher's voice, but what the book shows is the use Rubião makes of it after the philosopher dies.
Where It Appears
In chapter V the philosopher explains why he gave his own name to Quincas Borba (dog): if Humanitas resides everywhere, it also exists in the dog, which can receive a human name. It is the doctrinal reason, alongside that of wanting to survive in the dog's name.
In chapter VI comes the central exposition. The philosopher recounts his grandmother's death, struck down by a carriage whose owner was hungry, and concludes that there is no death, only the suppression of one form that is the condition for the survival of another. Rubião understands little of it and accepts being a disciple.
Ao vencido, ódio ou compaixão; ao vencedor, as batatas, To the vanquished, hatred or compassion; to the victor, the potatoes
In chapter VIII, leaving for Rio, the philosopher says that illness and health are two states of Humanitas. In chapter X, in the letter in which he calls himself Saint Augustine, he calls heresy everything that is not his doctrine of Humanitas.
In chapter XVIII, now an heir, Rubião reconstructs the philosopher's arguments from memory and understands for the first time the allegory of the starving tribes. The doctrine that had seemed obscure to him becomes a formula after the will.
o melhor modo de apreciar o chicote é ter-lhe o cabo na mão, the best way to appreciate the whip is to hold its handle
In chapter XIX, when deciding on the Mass for the deceased, Rubião notices that the veneration of Humanitas made people suspect that this was the testator's religion, and he has the Mass said all the same, as a prayer for the living.
In chapter CXXXIII, the legend of Rubião makes him the disciple of a great philosopher and explains his silence about philosophy by the master's method, who taught only men of goodwill. The legend's disciples are the dinner guests.
In chapter CLVI, in the thick of his mania, Rubião repeats, with lucidity, theories of his late friend, sometimes with the same phrases, and the narrator asks how to explain this knowledge of what he never understood, and why it all disappears when his reason returns.
From chapter CXCV to chapter CC, what remains of Humanitas is the motto of the potatoes, repeated without the allegory. This course is traced in the potatoes.
What It Means
The doctrine has two lives in the book. In the philosopher's mouth, it is an explanation that makes the destruction of one the life of another. In Rubião's head, it is a phrase he only understands once he is on the side of those who eat: heard without being understood, kept, and used when there is something to gain. In the chapters of his mania, it returns in phrases he did not understand before, and the narrator leaves the question unanswered.
The book does not discuss Humanitas as philosophy; it shows who uses it and for what. The philosopher uses it to explain his grandmother's death and, according to the newspaper, bore his illness with philosophy; Rubião uses it to feel like a victor. The text lets the reader see how much each use owes to the point of view of the one speaking.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Madness, Money and wealth.
- Characters: Quincas Borba (philosopher), who formulates it; Rubião, who inherits it; and Quincas Borba (dog), where the philosopher says it also dwells.
- Neighboring symbols: the potatoes, the practical formula of the doctrine, and the imperial crown, in which the doctrine and the delirium meet at the end.