Kant and Nietzsche on Free Will

Kant and Nietzsche on Free Will

Free Will is a topic that Immanuel Kant talks about in his book Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and Friedrich Nietzsche also talks about in his book, The Genealogy of morals. Judging by the responses of the two it would appear that they have different opinions on the whole idea of phenomenon albeit in different ways and for different reasons. Although their opinions do not seem similar, Kant believed in free will even though he could not cite specific examples of it Nietzsche subscribes to both fatalism and free will, two topics that seem to be completely at odds with each other. So both philosophers had similar yet at the same time, drastically different beliefs, but above all both subscribed to the tricky and complex question that humans will never stop answer, that of free will.

Kant subscribed to the thought that morality in itself was based on Freedom. Therefore, free will is determined by moral law. He also believed that will could not conceivably simply act on its own but rather it needed time to evaluate a situation and act in a given way. That is where the rational being comes in. In order for free will to be able to reflect on something it must be coupled with a rational mind that is at the controls.

While Kant says that free will exists, he says that it can not be proven, but rather that it must be "presupposed"