인간존재에 대한 근본적 물음: 필립 딕의 『안드로이드는 전기양을 꿈꾸는가?』를 중심으로

Abstract

Unlike conventional science fiction, Philip K. Dick’s novels contain creative ideas and an experimental mind. In particular, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, one of Dick’s most important and beautifully written science fiction novels, published in 1968, has a philosophical and metaphysical dimension. Central to this novel is the question of what it means to be a human being. The question “What is human?” haunted Dick throughout his life. Dick explores human beings through human and android. Despite the need to posit empathy as the defining characteristic of human beings in order to distinguish humans from androids in the novel, the actions of most of the characters suggest that subjectivities are still dominated by the rational, calculating logic of the cogito. This irony is manifested in the actions of the protagonist, Rick Deckard. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, it is not easy to distinguish humans from androids; boundary between them has become blurred. Dick portrays androids as ambiguous and unstable beings, and he defines human beings not as privileged organic entities but as living individuals who can communicate with the world around them. Dick lends a unique religious undertone to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? through the character of Wilbur Mercer, the Sisyphean religious leader of a highly technological world. Mercer is represented in this religious iconography of the future in the act of ascending a hill while unknown assassins hurl rocks at him and drive him inexorably back to the bottom―an analogue of Christ climbing Golgotha. However, at the end of the novel, Mercer is exposed as a fake by Buster Friendly, although Mercerism as a religion continues to remain viable. Dick uses Mercerism to deconstruct conventional religious values. Deckard survives not to fulfill an impossible redemption but to accept the true essence of life. That is, Mercerism is a new religious vision that emphasizes communication and sharing of experiences. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? hints at the existence of the other world, composed of a new community―a vision of the recovery of humanity not a result of advanced technology. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is an important milestone in humanity’s journey toward this ideal world.