Humanity and humaneness
Juan Camilo Espejo-Serna
Universidad de la Sabana
Write in chat a one-line summary of the plot of BLADERUNNER.
The film considers several topics of philosophical interest revolving around what it is to be human and what it is to be humane.
It is a deeply philosophical film in so far it takes us in a philosophical path and not only shows us philosophical themes or claims.
Philosophy is re-thinking.
One way to answer the question is to ask about intelligence. That is the EX-MACHINA way of putting the question. BLADERUNNER takes a different path.
Replicants are not robots. They are alive, ‘flesh and blood’, biological entities. More like Anton in GATTACA and less like Ava in EXMACHINA.
Replicants are not robots. But are they human?
Maybe
The Voight-Kampff test reveals replicants are not human.
The Voight-Kampff test usually determines reveals replicants are not human.
It meassures bodily functions such as respiration, heart rate, blushing and eye movement in response to emotionally provocative questions. Their abscence reveals the replicant.
But the film shows us that even though humans might have a distinctive capacity for empathy, the Nexus 6 are close to it. The film shows us that this new generation of Nexus and Rachel have some sense of empathy.
Replicants may be human in so far they have some degree of empathy.
No
Even the best, Rachel, might seem to be human but they cannot pass the Voight-Kampff test reveals they have fake memories.
“You think I’m a replicant, don’t you?”, says Rachel, and when he doesn’t
answer, she tries to hand him a photograph, saying “Look, it’s me with my mother”. He
ignores the photograph, and by way of response recounts a private memory of hers,
involving her and her brother.
Fabricated memories: they seem to be memories but they are not.
Episodic memories uniquely involve an experiencing self: it is MY recolection of a past event. By revealing them to be fake there is also a threat to the self purportedly doing the recolection.
Fabricated memories are of fabricated beings. Fabricated, phony, fake. Not real.
Fabricated memories of fabricated people: they seem to be memories but they are not.
Yes.
They feel pain, love, fear. They care for each other as they are aware of their own mortality.
Mulhall: nothing counts against the replicants being treated as human except the unwillingness or refusal of other human beings to treat them as such. They talk of Replicants, "retiring", skinjobs, "it".
Yes. Batty changes his mind. At some point, there is a change: he is not killing Deckard. He decides to save Deckard.
But once we come to this point we can rewatch the film as already having an answer to the question about the humanity of replicants: yes they are. Once we have that settled we can turn our attention away from the replicants and towards the humans. wE can do philosophy with through the film by re-thinking how we see it.
Deckard's encounter with the escaped replicants saves his humanity in a different sense. Let me explain.
Humanity and humaneness are not the same. Only humans can be humane, but also only humans can be inhumane.
Humans in the film are for the most part horrible.
Deckard's boss is a clear example of inhumanity: note his disdain in the ways he talks about Replicants as inskin jobs and "it".
Deckard starts off in the same way.
He seems to improve. But later falls agains. Horribly.
But he redeems himself. Notice the similarites and differences in the exchange in the final scene.
In the first scene, Deckard orders a vulnerable Rachel in an act of sexual violence. In the second, he kisses her in what is presented as an act of love.
The film takes us in Deckard's journey. Not (merely) as the search of the humanity of the Replicants, but of humaneness. Paradise lost, paradise regained.
Next week
- Discussion
- Film: Pick any of the films we have seen!
- Write: 200 word summary of one the films that interested you for a rewatch
- Read: any paper on 1000 word philosophy
that relates to the film you chose.