The will in Kant and Nietzsche: Key to understanding moral action

Abstract

The will is the key to understanding moral action. For this reason, it is convenient to examine it in the light of Kant's “Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals” and Nietzsche's “The Will to Power”. These reflections, framed within the context of pedagogical practice, will present, first, the generalities of Kantian ethical formalism; contrary to Nietzsche's amoral project, whose aspirations ponder the natural side of values. Second, it will show how Kant privileges the moral use of reason, determinant of good will; unlike Nietzsche, who maintains that reason is impulse in struggle. Finally, he will refer to the Kantian notion of autonomous will, the faculty of choosing what is necessary, good and in accordance with the "ought to be"; on the contrary, Nietzsche expresses the will to power as a vital and free impulse that invites the subject to take responsibility for his own law and transform it into his own destiny. Confronting these ideas responds to the well-intentioned possibility of reconciling them at some point.