Empathy: The Favorite of Science Fiction Literature

The article focuses on the intriguingly frequent problematization of empathy in modern science fiction literature - both globally and in the Polish context - which authors usually mention explicitly, subjecting empathy to literary interpretation, although not necessarily an affirming one. Empathy in the form of a specific "device" or a trait typical to humanity becomes a symbol of the absolute, a stigma of heroism, or a governing principle of a community, occasionally revealing the principles of an empathetic symbiosis that exceeds the anthropocentric dimension. The author analyzes novels and short stories by Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, along with a special focus on Stanislaw Lem and Jacek Dukaj.