Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Leopoldo Lugones And Jorge Luis Borges On Science: The Garden Of Forking Opinions, John G. Zehnder

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper attempts to show how the fantastic authors Leopoldo Lugones and Jorge Luis Borges expressed different viewpoints about science and technology through their short stories. These Argentine authors are among Latin America’s most famous authors in the genre of the fantastic. However, these two literary luminaries diverged greatly with regard to their opinion about the role of science in society. While Lugones considered scientific progress to a grave threat to the moral fabric and well-being of society, Borges believed that scientific theories underpin and intersect with a variety of different experiences and thus can serve as tools to explore …