Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, Part 1 of 2

With all the talk about empathy in Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I find it interesting the way the humans in the novel treat that term. When Rick Deckard thinks to himself that “Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community...,” I can’t help but start to draw parallels to the idea of the “White Man’s Burden” back in the day (30). I start to feel the sense that the humans think that their capability to feel empathy must make them superior to other species, just like the Europeans felt that they were superior themselves. The humans in the novel as well as the Europeans both seem to think that they are the ones who should be passing down the judgment on the world, in that sense.

        However, though the humans think that they are the world’s empathetic beings and act based on that assumption, various cases in the text seem to point out that this maybe is not true. For one, Rick seems to feel no emotional connection to his wife, especially judging by the fact that he relies on his mood organ so much to even feel the different emotions. He also doesn’t seem to really understand what empathy even is. The humans seem to think that simply owning an animal shows that a person has empathy. However, in reality, instead of feeling the emotions of the animals using empathy, the humans pretty much treat them as expensive commodities (such as a car or a house). They retain full ownership of each animal, and the animals basically have no freedom under the ownership of the humans. Rick also seems to be more preoccupied with the fact that he has no real animal than the satisfaction he would get from owning a real one. He therefore seems to be more concerned about keeping up his image as an “empathic person” than actually caring for the animals suffering due to the nuclear fallout. It is as if the animals are the luxury items, and are mean more for showing off than to actually feel for. Therefore, it raises the question of if humans really think they are empathic beings, and whether they really are.