A genealogy of the will : a comparison of the works of Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche

This study investigates the development of the notion of man\u27s will upon which Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche based their theories. Although this topic had been virtually neglected in the great intellectual debates of the first to the eighteenth centuries, by the nineteenth century the question of man\u27s will--its origin, function, and value--dominated such philosophical discussions. An exploration of the differences in the perception and role of the will in the works of these three men is attempted, from Kant\u27s redefinition of the nature of will, to Schopenhauer\u27s redirection of its position in philosophical matters, to Nietzsche\u27s radical reinterpretation of the entire problem. An examination of these profoundly different interpretations and implications reveals that Kant\u27s effort to emancipate the will from its causal connections to make room for moral responsibility was transformed by Nietzsche into an attempt to liberate mankind from his own moral and metaphysical misunderstandings