Blue Tigers, By Jorge Luis Borges

An interesting topic to explore and debate is the question of how much of our identity is innate and how much of it is developed with time. Following this question, and further continuing the discussion, would be whether or not there are innate aspects of identity that are biologically instilled in all humans and/or animals. Such aspects could include survival instincts, empathy, fear, or selfishness. If every being possesses these qualities, then it is not hard to see why one would argue its potential to be biological. However, if that is true, can one even say that those aspects are a part of one's identity? Identity seems to own a certain uniqueness to it, like when people say “stay true to yourself”, “there will never be another you”, or
The protagonist, who has a love of tigers, searches for a special blue tiger, but ends up finding something more frightening than he had ever planned to encounter. The real ‘blue tigers’ are stones that defy all laws of logic by multiplying and disappearing at a seemingly random “pattern”. Although this does not seem that terrifying on its face, these stones disrupt everything that the protagonist has ever known as a philosopher and a logical human. This where innate biological aspects link to identity. Every living thing operates by causation and logic, which are both parts of the foundation of identity. So, there is nothing that is fathomable to humans that also lacks cause and reason because these two properties are innate to every being. The stones do not just disrupt the protagonist’s identity as a philosopher, but it disrupts his identity as a human being. It would disrupt anyone’s identity, being that causation and logic is the umbrella of the means by which all things live. The protagonist’s story can most similarly be compared to the movie The Matrix, in which a man finds out that the world he lived in was computer generated. In both scenarios everything known to be true is a lie; however, in The Matrix the foundations of humanity still existed so at least the protagonist was able to understand the fabric of the new real world. In the case of “Blue Tigers”, the protagonist