Single Idea 6191

[catalogued under 20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act]

Full Idea

The will could be defined as the faculty of purposes, since they are always determining grounds of the faculty of desire according to principles.

Gist of Idea

The will is the faculty of purposes, which guide desires according to principles

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Practical Reason [1788], I.1.II)

Book Reference

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Practical Reason (Third edition)', ed/tr. Beck,Lewis White [Library of Liberal Arts 1993], p.61


A Reaction

Do animals have wills? Kant implies that you can only have a will if you have principles. Compare Hobbes' rather less elevated definition of the will (Idea 2362).

Related Idea

Idea 2362 The will is just the last appetite before action [Hobbes]