It is a common idea that free self-determination means not being determined by one's living nature. However, as Thomas Khurana demonstrates in his fundamental study following Kant and Hegel, we cannot leave it at such a dichotomy of freedom and life. Only by returning to the concept of life can we understand the form and reality of human freedom. However, this does not mean reducing practical freedom to the natural. Rather, we gain a deeper understanding of the internal tensions and challenges of modern freedom, a critical theory of our second nature.