Hi all,
This week I talked about a lot haha. I discuss the story of Tlon, Pierre Menard, The Secret Miracle, and Borges and I. This week, I dedicate to understanding how the mind works, the role of language, what makes a person, the purpose of creating art, and the self… Like I said, many things to be discussed.
Question: Do you believe that “existence precedes essence”? This is a central question in Pierre Menard, and I would love to hear what you have to say. Put another way, do you believe that you can “create yourself,” or do you believe that there is a you, a Self, that can be discovered?
See ya Tuesday – Curtis
Goodness, very philosophical, indeed! 🙂 My feeling is that, perhaps unlike philosophers, Borges is seldom interested in the “right” answer to such questions such as (say) whether existence precedes essence or vice versa, but he’s interested in the consequences of taking one position or another. “The Circular Ruins,” for instance, is about someone who is intent on creating a self… only to find that he himself has been created by someone else, because if you can create selves, then surely you could also be a created self.