Abstract

This article investigates the history of the concept of the will in the middle ages and the early modern period. At this time, the concept developed through theological challenges, considering different types of the will, i. e., the divine will and the human will and their interaction. The relation of intellect and will likewise receives further elaboration. In the early modern period, these scholastic concepts are applied to political philosophy, notably by Hobbes and Rousseau. I. Kant finally relocates these questions again in the individual, but transforms the dialectic between intellect and will into a confrontation between objective reason and subjective motivations. The will itself is absorbed into the legislation of practical reason. Generally, the theological implications of this legislation and the dynamic of the will are at this time relocated within the individual or the political community, which might be one of the reasons for the peculiar dynamic of the modern age.