René Descartes and Franz Kafka: notes on a crossing

Abstract

This article establishes relationships between Descartes (Discourse on the Method and Meditations on First Philosophy) and Franz Kafka (Aphorismen, Erzälungen aus dem Nachlass, and Tagebücher). The parallels are drawn from three main axes: the metaphor of the path, the use of estrangement, and the concept of empty transcendence. The analysis is conducted through comments on the mentioned works of Descartes and Kafka, and also relies on the interpretations of scholars of both authors, including Arendt (2007), Cottingham (1995), Galvão (2001), Taylor (2013), and Koyré (1963) on Descartes' work, and Anders (2007), Derrida (2024), Flusser (2002), and Rosenfeld (1996) on Kafka's literature.