I was thinking about how empathy (or was it sympathy?) used to have connotations of the uncanny and why that might be. I think it relates to the underlying mirror effect that occurs when we identify ourselves with someone. We are able to see ourselves in their shoes, and almost selfishly it is that which allows us to feel for them. I think you could make the argument that a lot of sympathy is our own fear being projected on the others – I wouldn’t want that to happen to me, so I feel badly that it happened to you – but I think in empathy you find a deeper connection wherein another person’s struggles or misfortunes are yours.
I’m taking social organization of Law right now, and one of our readings focused on a case where a boy from a disadvantaged background committed a murder. That he did it was not in doubt, and the jury was composed of people who all to some degree believed in and supported the death penalty. When the time came to sentence him, however, none voted for capital punishment.
At some point in the trial, as the defendant’s story had unfolded, the jury began to see him in themselves and people they knew. They could identify him as human despite his brutal crime, and they chose to save him. It is not just our ability to empathize with others that makes us human, but also the ability for others to empathize with us.
This is where “Do Androids Dream” comes up. In one of our classes someone noted that they almost empathized with the androids, because they were being hunted down. Although we are told that they are not human, and that they are dangerous and deceitful, that they struggle at all for their ‘lives’ is a very human thing, one that we can relate to. Especially because of their human appearance and Deckard’s affair, I felt the line between human and android was constantly being pushed and challenged. I think this also ties back to Never Let Me Go, where some people in the class found it difficult to reconcile the characters passivity with their humanity. But although they did not try to escape, they exhibited love, anguish, despair – all of which spoke to their humanity.
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