If A Lack Of Empathy Is A Contributing Trait To Being An Android, Then Are Those Who Feel No

In the 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick defines essential human characteristics as having empathy, emotions and spirituality. When a being lacks any, or all, of these characteristics it is considered non-human, or an Android. Do these characteristics wholly define being a human? In judgment of these qualities can we distinguish between humans and non-humans?. Though empathy is an important quality in being a human, is does not qualify as the cornerstone to all human life. That in fact, many human beings lack this quality to some degree or another. Empathy is a trait that changes depending on circumstances. For this to be a defining characteristic of a human being it cannot change or the definition of a human being would have to change with it. In essence, if this were the case, what you would have is a being that is considered human under certain circumstances and non-human under others. Philip K. Dick would have to concur with this fallacy in order to avoid hypocrisy and thus this proves that that a being can be human even if it lacks certain human characteristics, such as empathy.

Empathy is an ability to recognize and interpret other people’s emotions while not necessarily sharing them, which is contrary to sympathy, which is defined as being shared by both individuals. An example of such is witnessing a friend who is angered with someone else. As a person expressing empathy you recognize and attempt to understand your friend’s frustrations even though you aren’t yourself mad at that person. Sympathy is recognizing a friend’s frustration and yourself being frustrated as well.

Empathy is currently one of the most discussed topics in psychology today. At the center of nourishing the psychological development of infants to young adolescents is the parental factor. Studies have shown that deficiencies in parental empathy are likely to be key factors in creating greater probability for personality disorders, depression and other interpersonal impairments (“Do People…). Into adulthood, lack of empathy is a major contributing factor in creating and perpetuating exploitive and abusive behavior. Many experts in the field of psychology view empathy to be one of the most important elements in the success and psychological wellbeing of an individual and blames failures in the growth of one’s empathy for negative personality disorders.

Similarly in psychiatry, having empathy is defined as a person's ability to understand the feelings and state of being of another, in an acutely accurate manner. Psychiatry, too, draws a distinction between empathy and sympathy in a way that describes sympathy as being inclined to share the state of being of another. Empathy is unique in that an empathic person simply appreciates the feeling state of the other person while not always agreeing and/or sharing those feelings. Greater depth is involved in thinking beyond one’s self and imagining, or placing one’s “feet in another’s shoes”, the state of being of another. While shared sympathy is a wonderful trait of the human psyche it arguably does not see beyond the realm of one’s self. In sympathy, one is not required to understand the other but only to share the same responses as another. The feeling state of that person whom one is being sympathetic to does not necessarily have to be recognized, acknowledged, or understood. The best way to describe this is to feel of a certain way towards a person, place or situation, and merely have another feel the same way about that thing.

The origin of empathy seems to come from the physical mimicking that parents do with their children. The effort made on the part of the adult to mimic the child is the beginning stages of putting aside one’s self in order to recognize and communicate effectively the needs and wants of the child. If a child is lucky enough to grow up with a mother who is at the child's disposal in an empathic manner, then a healthy self-feeling can generally develop in the growing child. However, frequent absence of empathy can result in children negating their own feelings because of the reaction it induces in their parents, but find that they are hyper-sensitive to disapproval and other negative reactions from others. When the need to be understood takes precedence over mutuality, social interchanges can often feel one-sided. The need for recognition and understanding can be so intense that it may be expressed by seeming demanding and self-centered. Yet this proves as another form of being misunderstood when these actions provoke discord and thus perpetuates the situation.

Empathy is an extremely important trait to the development of psychologically healthy individuals. We see that it starts from childhood and grows well into adulthood, affecting many aspects of our interpersonal lives. Those who are truly empathetic have an ability to see past themselves for the good of another individual and seek to understand that individual’s feelings and state of being. It is no wonder why Philip K. Dick in the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, chose to use empathy as a defining characteristic of a human-being.

However important empathy may be to the psychology of the human psyche, there is evidence that certain neurological disorders exist whereby the person does not show any sign of empathy or outward emotions. These disorders may include, but are not limited, to: autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and other personality disorders.

Autistic individuals have an impaired ability to read or judge actionsвЂ"namely, body language. Therefore, they seem disconnected from life and display no signs of emotion or empathy. However, studies have shown that when autistics do recognize the feeling state of another they demonstrate signs of having and expressing empathy. Therefore, because one does not necessarily show outward empathy towards others, does not mean that they lack empathy all together (“Do People with Asperger’s Syndrome Have Empathy?”) or at least the ability to have empathy under ideal circumstances.

Personality disorders may include individuals that show signs of narcissism вЂ" a character trait described as an individual who has self-admiration or self-love and a tendency to over-estimate one's abilities and importance. A narcissistic individual usually lacks empathy, is aloof towards others, and generally avoids intimate relationships. In addition, a person with a narcissistic personality disorder is self-centered and egotistical (Ashmun). Though narcissism is just one of many personality disorders, it shows how an individual who suffers from such a disorder can lack something

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