What would Kant do?
Need some help here...
Say a mad axe man knocks on my door and asks if my wife (whom I love) is in. Am I compelled by Kant's Categorial Imperative not to tell a lie? or is it ok to lie to mad axe men?
To put my question another way does telling white lies go against universal reason?
What would Kant do?
Tags: categorial, imperatieve, kant
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Paynton on -
I can never be bothered to follow all that stuff, it seems a bit weird, which is probably why it's never caught on. What works in one situation doesn't necessarily work in another. A few virtues can be said to be valid 100% of the time, and I don't consider telling the truth to be one of them. Which is worse - lying to a mad axe man, or letting your wife be murdered? In that situation you would need to keep your nerve.
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Permalink Reply by Ben wright on -
Yeah you would have to tell the truth because in the long run telling the truth about everything would benefit more than it would hurt. According to Kant.
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Permalink Reply by Ben wright on
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But as Simon says life's not that simple. And if we followed this then Ann Franks diary would be much shorter!
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