Kafka and Technocratic Reality

The aim of the article is to identify the main themes of Franz Kafka's story “In the Penal Colony” in the light of the emerging philosophy of technology contemporary to him. The basis of the analysis is a comparative perspective on the literary fiction and philosophical programs that are united by the same theme and problematics.  On the eve of the First World War, questions about the pragmatics and teleology of the rapid development of technology became relevant, also about the consequences of its incorporation into the very fabric of culture, and about the increase of its manipulative possibilities in the control of the natural order. The growing power of the machine, of the soulless apparatus, is realized as a great civilizational problem, which both “philosophical engineers” and their critics are trying to solve, which is realized both in the forms of philosophical discourse and in artistic works. The first experiments in the philosophy of engineering include the works of Ernst Kapp, Thorstein Veblen, Peter Engelmeyer, Friedrich Dessauer, Eberhard Zschimmer, Oswald Spengler, Georg Simmel, and later Boris Vysheslavtsev. The literary works of writers also appear which reflect the problematics related to the affirmation of technology and engineering in culture. Franz Kafka's short story “In the Penal Colony” reflects many themes that are part of the tradition of the philosophy of technology, not only among Kafka's contemporary philosophizing engineers on the eve of World War I, but throughout the 20th century. These include the technocratic tendencies of the “idle class,” the ideals of the technocratic order; the ethical problems associated with the introduction of machines into the body of culture; and the possibility of a harmonious interaction between the social and technical worlds. The article analyzes some of the issues contained in Kafka's story in the light of the emerging field of humanitarian knowledge – philosophy of technology.