The "Wilson" Effect

I had quite a successful presentation today in existentialism, if my general observations are correct. While there were multiple strong discussions that took place during our presentation, I was most strongly interested in the so called “Wilson effect” that became a hot topic during discussion of self and the Other. The question goes as such, if there was a human being born and raised in complete isolation from any other mind, would that human have a concept of self or being? Many of the participants suggested that the human in this case would create there own version of the Other, much in the same way Tom Hanks created Wilson when he was stranded in the movie Castaway. While this seemed to be a popular solution, I’m not sure that it would hold true for someone who had never experienced another conscious entity. According to Sartre, it is the look of others that creates the foundation for our being. Without the Other there to reflect upon and become objectified, a conscious being can never move from the subjective I to the objective me. While I remained convinced that a person born and raised in isolation would have no concept of self, there was an interesting point raised about potentially absorbing the Other and making it a part of our own consciousness. This is at least suggested by Sartre, when he says we have to take the freedom of the Other, but the suggestion was to reflect inwardly upon one’s self, effectively becoming one’s own Other. This seems to be similar to what Tom Hanks’ character did in Castaway, only rather than creating the Other inside his own consciousness, he instead gave it a physical form in the volleyball known as Wilson. While I am not even sure that this type of reflective conflict with a manufactured Other is possible, I certainly remain interested in the idea and plan to ponder it further.