Hegel and AI: An Analysis of Android Self-Consciousness in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

Hegel and AI: An Analysis of Android Self-Consciousness in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Jack Smyth

Trinity College Dublin

Abstract

This article investigates Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep to come to an understanding of the self-conscious behaviour of androids in the novel within a Hegelian framework. Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Spirit is employed as the chief analytical text throughout the essay. The Phenomenology complements Dick’s tale of androids searching for recognition when one parallels their plight with Hegel’s enslaved subject in the “Lordship and Bondage” chapter of the Phenomenology. This study analyses the degree to which the androids in DADES exhibit proof of Hegelian consciousness, and aims to locate the point at which androids no longer ascribe to Hegelian ideas of human consciousness. The essay ultimately concludes that, while Dick’s androids are indeed self-conscious beings, they are not yet phenomenally human due to their lack of Rational Self-Consciousness.

About the Author

Jack Smyth Jack Smyth is a mechanical engineer from Wexford, Ireland. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he began his philosophical work on analysing fictional representations of artificial intelligence. “Hegel and AI” is his first publication.

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Published: 2024 – 07 – 01

Issue: Vol 7 (2024)

Section: Yearly Theme

Copyright (c) 2024 Jack Smyth

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