Compassion, Empathy, and Sympathy

There are many words for the different emotional responses that human beings have towards one another. Empathy, sympathy, and compassion are just a few of these responses that define human interactions with one another and with other living thing. In many ways, the ability to empathize, sympathize are strictly human traits, while at the same time it is difficult to acertain if these traits are what truly makes one "human."
One of the most interesting aspects of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" is the question of what truly makes on human. Phillip Dick contends that is the ability to feel compassion and empathize with other beings is and integral part of the human condition. In the dystopian future, Androids are judged upon their ability the feel compassion for animals and humans alike. But technology has advanced so much that fake humans and animals are almost indistinguishable from the real thing, as Milt points out, "with those disease circuits they're building into the new ones!" (Dick, Chapter 7) It raises an interesting dillemma, one that modern man rarely has to deal save for specific situations.
One of these situations is in the form of the difficult issue of people with certain defects that can render them virtually lifeless vegetables, completely dependent on others to survive. Is it fair to consider these people "human"? In many ways, they share traits with the androids of Dick's future world, the inability to express compassion or even emotions, not because they're not programmed to, but their physical and mental disabilities prevent them from being able to. But in most circumstances, most people would find it despicable to treat these individuals as anything less than human, and the only time anyone would find it ok to allow these individuals to die would be out of an empathic justification that death is a less painful and more humane existence than the one they have now.
So what is about these people that provokes empathetic emotions from others? I truly believe it is because as fellow human beings we can see ourselves in these people. Any simple genetic defect or disease could reduce us to the same state as them, so they deserve nothing but the upmost respect that we afford other human beings. They are equal in our eyes, as they HAVE the innate ability to empathize like us, but simply cannot because of a defect. Androids on the other hand, have no such ability and will never have such an ability. They are machines created by mankind and their emotions and behaviors have been prescribed by humans, whether intentional or not.
It is this fundamental difference that also applies somewhat to animals. While androids are a unique circumstance that we as humans have not yet had to deal with, our interactions with animals are a daily occurrence in our lives. Most people are not entirely certain if animals have the ability to feel for others, to see themselves in others, or to feel anything resembling compassion other than other members of their own species, which may simply be instinctive behavior that they do not fully process. Animals, unlike the theoretical android, cannot speak and thus it may be easier for humans to brush them off as emotionless or feeling-less. If one is to believe this, it is much easier to treat animals as nothing else other than food, target practice, or entertainment. It is in many ways a similar concenpt to the idea that "one effective mode of persuasion in the arts and humanities is the history of a person, for the history of a few specific people may call forth more of a genuine reaction than endless summaries of statistics about millions of people in general." (Abstractions website)
I personally believe that animals do not have the ability to empathize, to feel for others, or to sympathize, to be "affected by the suffering or sorrow of another (Course Anthology 274N)" in the same vein as human beings. Therefore, they do not have the same rights as human beings. At the same time, I do believe that animals have the ability to suffer, and thus is I believe it is important that we as an empathetic and intelligent species do our best to reduce suffering in all walks of life. Does that mean I'm going to put down my juicy angus steak burger anytime soon? Well, you're going to have to convince my taste-buds that the potential suffering of a cow is not worth the deliciousness. And that's a battle I do not think anyone will be able to win.