Abstract: This article reads Borges's essays on Zeno's paradoxes through the lens of pataphysics — the "science of imaginary solutions" — to reinterpret his hybrid mode of reasoning that blends disciplines, as well as reason with unreason, order with chaos, and seriousness with humor. Drawing on Alfred Jarry's concept of pataphysics and Christian Bök's pataphysical reappropriation of Gaston Bachelard's "surrationalism," I argue that Borges's texts embody a form of pataphysics: a paradox-embracing, jocoserious reflection that challenges rationalism by exploring the "crevices of unreason" — exceptions that disrupt logic from within. Borges offers a playful yet rigorous framework for thought, suited to the contradictions and uncertainties of postnormal times.
Zofia Grzesiak (Mon,) studied this question.