O Escândalo da Distância

Much has been written about the philosophical nature of The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Discussions often focus on Hans Castorp’s learning journey, the debates between Settembrini and Naphta, and the young protagonist’s encounter with the enigmas of time, love, and death. However, judging by the depiction of the alpine sanatorium where the meditative and lethargic protagonist spends seven years of his life, the point seems to be missed. If The Magic Mountain is a philosophical book, it is not because of its themes, but because it dramatizes a reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of distance for thought.

Is distance—symbolized by the mountain—an incentive to reflection? Or is it a pretext for inaction, a justification for indifference, withdrawal, or even cowardice?

And what is the alternative? A return to the business and wars of the lowlands? What constitutes the proper distance? Today, in times of technological acceleration, political radicalization, and imminent war, this question—which was Mann’s—is also ours.

O Escândalo da Distância, by João Pedro Cachopo, is one of the works included in the “Ensaio Aberto” book collection, a partnership between NOVA FCSH and PUC-Rio.

Ensaio Aberto Collection

In the Western tradition, the separation between Philosophy and Literature has long been taken for granted, resulting in a historical understanding that divides the mind, reflection, or reason on one side, and the body, creation, or emotion on the other. This division forfeited the possibility of a form of knowledge that, instead of separating, could bring Philosophy and Literature closer by asking: do writers not philosophize, and do philosophers not write? The Open Essays in this collection arise from the desire to explore how, despite Philosophy’s well-known metaphysical critique of Literature, the two have never ceased to converge.