『안드로이드는 전기양을 꿈꾸는가』에 나타난 포스트휴먼 프레카리티

Abstract

This study examines how Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? aligns with the posthuman Gothic while also exposing stratified exclusion and inequality within human society. It argues that the novel’s source of horror stems not merely from the collapse of boundaries between the human and the nonhuman but also from the ways these boundaries function as mechanisms of social and political precarity. The preservation of human identity paradoxically operates as a form of power that excludes certain beings within humanity. Thus, the anxieties of posthuman Gothic are not solely ontological crises but are deeply entangled with biopolitical forces that regulate precarity. Focusing on John Isidore, this study explores these concerns through Judith Butler’s concept of precarity. Isidore’s life exemplifies how hierarchical classifications of humanity lead to exclusion and the invisibilization of those deemed unworthy of a “livable life.” However, Isidore simultaneously reshapes and extends his capacity for empathy, reaching out to those living in precarious conditions. Finally, this paper examines how the novel interrogates the possibility of solidarity beyond political and social regulatory structures—particularly the use of empathy and Mercerism--by foregrounding care and interdependence.