I Experience, Therefore I Am: A Case for an Evolutionary View of Self from Plato to Blade Runner to Arrival Anonymous 11th Grade

Plato’s allegory of the cave tells the story of a group of men bound together in chains from birth, locked away from the world in a deep, dark cave. They are forced to stare at the wall of the cave and are unable to look around at each other and their surroundings. One day, one prisoner is mysteriously freed from his shackles and leaves the cave to explore the new and enchanting world of humanity. After he exits the cave, his eyes struggle to adjust to the sunlight. But, after they adjust, he discovers that there are other people in the world - free people, no less. Amazed, he returns to the cave and tells his fellow prisoners of his experience. Unsurprisingly, they do not take his information - which is ultimately a challenge of their worldview - very well. They brutally murder the man, thereby refuting his worldview and confirming that humans are shaped by their environment and are unwilling to listen to and accept new ideas and opportunities. Although the assertions about human nature made in the allegory of the cave are wholeheartedly correct, Plato’s theory of the self - which says that all parts of the soul have desires, but desire in appetitive and spirited parts is not a matter of belief about what is good and what is...