Reason is used practically when it determines the actions of the will, that is, when a person acts on the basis of reasons. Kant tied practical reason tightly to freedom, which is able to overcome sensuous impulses, which yield only “animal choice.”
But the power of choice that can be determined independently of sensible impulses and hence through motivating causes that are presented only by reason is called the free power of choice (arbitrium liberum); and everything connected with this free power of choice, whether as a basis or consequence is called practical. (A802/B830)This freedom is “practical” and can be demonstrated from experienced by the fact that we deliberate as to what is desirable to us and operate under rational laws which tell us what we ought to do to attain it.
The practical use of reason is contrasted with its theoretical use, which is confined to the cognition of objects.
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