Abstract
In December of 1940, in Sérgio Buarque de Holanda's column in newspaper Diário de Notícias, the literary critic, historian and journalist published an article in which he questions the arguments contained in the then-recently launched book, A filosofia de Machado de Assis, by Afrânio Coutinho. At the center of the controversy is the degree of importance either of the annalists attributes to the reception of Pascal's writing in the work of Machado de Assis: while Coutinho defends Jansenism as the main source for "the philosophy of Machado de Assis", Holanda proposes skepticism as the attitude that better characterizes the Brazilian writer's thinking.
Keywords:
Diário de Notícias; Afrânio Coutinho; Pascal; Jansenism; skepticism