Theo Kobusch

Kant’s doctrine of the „categories of freedom“ is one of the most obscure parts of his practical philosophy. This obscurity has its reason not only in Kant’s particular train of thought, but also in our unfamiliarity with the historical background of Kantian practical philosophy, which in actuality reaches back to medieval theories of the will.The categories of freedom,which prima facie seem to have been composed by strict analogy with those of theoretical reason, in fact unveil the particular nature of the realmof freedom, i. e. the practical field. As one of the most difficult parts of Kant’s thinking, the doctrine of the categories of freedom clearly shows the influence of thoughts and terminology belonging to the philosophical tradition of Chr.Wolff and his school, especially G. F. Meier and A. G. Baumgarten. Furthermore, it also demonstrates Kant’s practical philosophy to be primarily a theory of the will, not of action.