Lecture 2, 2007
“ ‘Borges and I’ and ‘I’ ”
John Perry
Stanford University
Full Text
Download/View the PDF
Abstract
In Jorge Luis Borges’ (very) short story, “Borges and I,” one
character, referred to in the first person, complains about his strained
and complex relation with another character, called “Borges.”
But the characters are both presumably the author of the short story.
I try to use ideas from the philosophy of language to explain how Borges
uses language to express complex thoughts, and then discuss two interpretations
of the story.
Preferred citation
Perry, John. “ ‘Borges and I’ and ‘I’.” The
Amherst Lecture in Philosophy 2 (2007): 1–16.
<http://www.amherstlecture.org/perry2007/>.
