Tigres azules of J. L. Borges. Logic, Truth and Impossible Worlds
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2017iss10pp7-27Keywords:
Borges, impossible world, paradoxes, paraconsistent logicAbstract
The aim of this text is show how Borges, in his story Tigres azules, develops several interesting ideas about logic, language and mathematics. The starting point is Borgesian skepticism about the ability of classical logic to take the problem of truth and impossible worlds. It is defended that inconsistent and even self-contradictory objects do not necessarily give rise to physically or logically impossible worlds. It is suggested that the paradoxes that Borges constructs in the story are not paradoxes of self-reference, but variants of Moore’s paradox and paradoxes of material implication, so to overcome them requires a non-classical approach that neutralizes ECQ, this is, a paraconsistent logic system.
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