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"What Works" Article

Good Fiction

Article

One good piece of fiction I regularly use in my introductory class is Philip K. Dick's novel: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? This easy-to-read novel involves humanoid androids who escape slavery to live on Earth. The distinction between humans and androids is that androids do not feel empathy. The bounty hunter, Deckard (read Descartes??) who is sent to kill them developes empathy for them.

The book is an excellent entree into theories of personhood. Are the androids persons? I've used the book in having students write dialogues about personhood.