Lecture 2, 2007

“ ‘Borges and I’ and ‘I’ ”

John Perry

Stanford University

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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/>.