Abstract
This paper is based on the Peircean view of similarity between the peculiar type of observation employed by a philosopher trying to assess the nature of experience (by a phaneroscopist) and by an artist crafting a work of art. We argue that this similarity explains why a work of art sometimes deals with themes which are also being dealt with in rigorous philosophical research.
To illustrate this point, we discuss Peirce's notion of fully degenerate Thirdness and show how this notion implicitly forms the core of some of the short stories of J. L.
Borges. An example of a fully degenerate Thirdness given by Peirce is that of a Pure Self-Consciousness, which is "a mere feeling that has a dark instinct of being a germ of thought" (CP 5.71).
We will show that it is precisely this "dark instinct" serving a central thematic role in some of Borges's short stories such as The Circular Ruins and The Library of Babel, where it binds together and gives ground to such a strange world filled with uncertainty. This kind of interpretation or comparison simultaneously aids in understanding of both Borges's and Peirce's writing.