As manifestações de empatia entre humanos e n˜åo-humano em Androides sonham com ovelhas elétricas? (1968) de Philip K. Dick

Abstract

Transhumanist and post-humanist studies present the improvement of the human body as a way of guaranteeing more autonomy to individuals, however, the more involvement and improvement of the bodies, the more robotic the humans can become. Some dystopian works, which bring the discussion about human bodies and artificial bodies, point to a phenomenon of distance between humans and exclusion of the weakest and/or different from a physical appearance and standard behavior. In contrast, there are humanoid robots with artificial life enhancement that seeks to show human behavior in robotic bodies. In this work, it will be analyzed how empathy can be manifested in non-human bodies from the concept of artificial life in the work Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), by Philip K. Dick, trying to understand how the concept of empathy presented in the narrative is flawed and manifests itself as a way to restrict and eliminate the existence of non-human bodies. To this end, researchers such as Hayles (1999), Bedau (2007) and Brand (2013) will be used to discuss conceptual aspects of transhumanism, post-humanism and artificial life.