A surface-level reading of the Adeptus Mechanicus presents a grimdark vision: the transhumanist project has failed. The aspiration to elevate humanity beyond its bodily condition and discard everything that does not conform to pure reason appears fundamentally at odds with the techno-theocratic structure of the Cult Mechanicus.
I want to offer an alternative interpretation. A glimpse into contemporary debates on transhumanism reveals an increasing reintroduction of the divine as a fundamental component. A result from a post-secular demand to create a technologically mediated re-enchantment of the world. Techno-theology is therefore not an internal contradiction of transhumanism but a recurring feature of it.
Building on this reframing of transhumanism and its relationship to faith, I argue that the Adeptus Mechanicus can be interpreted as philosophically retracing Kant’s notion of religion as presented in “Religion within the Bounds of Mere Reason”. For Kant, religion is not opposed to reason but arises from practical reason as the moral framework necessary for pursuing the highest good. Faith is thus justified not through speculative metaphysics but through the demands of reason itself.
As a tailored example of the Adeptus Mechanicus implementing a Kantian theological structure, I want to retrace three argumentative steps of Kant and find their narrative counterparts. 1) Reason and morality are independent from any divine being. Why “machinehood” is an inherent virtue and “the flesh is weak”. 2) That God arises as postulate and demands a “faith of reason” (Vernunftglauben). The role of the Machinegod to bridge the antinomy of practical reason. 3) Why a cult/religion is required to rid humanity from the “evil principle”. Why the Cult Mechanicus exists.
This comparison demonstrates how, through Kant’s philosophy, the Adeptus Mechanicus can reconcile faith and reason, without betraying their fundamental principles.
Author bio
Jonathan Landschützer is currently a TA and MA student in Philosophy at the University of Graz (Austria). His areas of specialization are history of philosophy and philosophy of religion. Both with focus on Kant, which is mirrored in the current master’s thesis, “Autonomy of Morality in Kant’s Religion (working title)”.
