“Be just”: Human, Machine, Punishment

The works of Franz Kafka arouse constant interest and debate, which is due to their semantic complexity, the paradoxical nature of situations described, and the unusual nature of characters. The purpose of the essay is to determine the connection between machine and human in the system of punishment and “judicial proceedings” in Kafka’s story “In the Penal Colony” in the context of issues of philosophy of technology. The analysis of Kafka’s story allows us to focus on the complexity of the relationship between man and machine, which manifests itself, among other things, in entrusting the machine with the mission of “objective punishment,” performing a special act of justice. The essay compares the ideas of this story with the ideas of Ivan Turgenev’s “The Execution of Troppmann.” Turgenev’s story describes the public execution of the murderer of seven people, Jean Baptiste Troppmann, in Paris. The emotional background of the execution is the mood and behavior of the public, which, according to the writer, confirm the attractiveness of violence for the crowd. The method of Troppmann’s execution was guillotining; the history of its use is associated with the principle of “equality” of punishment, the desire to spare a convict from torment due to the fault of an unqualified executioner. The death machine in Franz Kafka’s story performs the task of “purifying” the criminal with punishment by “reading” the bloody inscription applied to the body by the machine, which gradually kills the criminal. According to the officer, the machine is perfect. Its destruction does not mean abandoning the principle of “guilt is always beyond a doubt” and similar deadly mechanisms. The mission of technology is determined by society, the interests of different states, social groups and political communities.