On The Relationship Between Practical Reason And Will In Kant’s Philosophy

The relationship between practical reason and will is the core of Kant’s ethics.Although Kant put forward the claim that "the will is practical reason",the connotation of this proposition is too complicated,which leads to different interpretations in academic circles.Kant’s division of the realm of experience and the realm of the thing itself gives rise to a dichotomy in his whole philosophy.Under the structure of this dichotomy,the concept of practical reason and the concept of will show a dual nature,experiential and transcendental.Thus,practical reason is divided into general practical reason and pure practical reason,and will is divided into willfulness and pure will.The relationship between practical reason and will can also be summed up as the relationship between the four.This paper will analyze the relationship between pure practical reason and pure will,as well as between pure practical reason and capriciousness through the investigation of Kant’s concept of practical reason and the concept of will.Then it is concluded that pure practical reason is equal to pure will and willfulness is subject to the rules of pure practical reason.First of all,the equivalence of pure practical reason and pure will is Kant’s innovation on the relationship between practical reason and will,which elevates the will to the height of ontological metaphysics and opens the forerunne for later volitism philosophy.Secondly,the view that willful is regulated by pure practical rational law is the inheritance of Kant’s view on the relationship between reason and will of western rationalism,and the maintenance of rationalism tradition.