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Immanuel kant's philosophy on lying
Immanuel kant's philosophy on lying
Immanuel kant's philosophy on lying
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It is a general assumption that everyone has lied. Are these lies all necessarily “bad?” Has there ever been a time that telling a lie has been more helpful than by telling the truth? Immanuel Kant was “a dominant figure in the history of modern philosophy” (Cahn 98). He stated that lying is never justifiable, since it does not give a person he respect that they deserve. This paper will argue against Kant, saying that there are situations that lying is permissible in that it protects a person's physical and/or mental well-being. Kant is very adamant about the fact that lying is always wrong. Kant reasons that the moral worth of a person's actions are to be evaluated by the maxim, principle, or motivation of the action rather than the consequences. …show more content…
She shares this information with her close friend. In a sense, the wife's life is in her friend's hands. If, in fact, the husband has been cheating, should her friend still act on her perfect duty not to lie and tell her yes? If she were to confirm the wife's accusations, she would commit suicide. Regardless if the husband has been cheating, it is in the wife's best interest to tell her that he has not been cheating in order to spare her her …show more content…
I think other people could argue against my beliefs to agree with Kant that no matter what circumstance people may find them in, we should never lie because it is our perfect duty. For instance, someone could argue against the murder at the door example and say that perhaps the murderer enters the home anyway and finds the person he has been in search for. What would happen to the person who lied? Even so, that person could leave the house and call the police, which would ultimately help the situation; in addition, his or her friend would know that the person letting them hide did all they could do to protect them. Also, someone could object to my argument that lying helps a person ease through social encounters and trivial matters. Take the social encounter example into consideration; someone could argue against me and say that maybe the one fibbing about how he has been doing does not look the way he says he is feeling. For example, he may say he is doing fine, but his facial expressions and body language say differently. Typically, however, asking someone how he or she has been is usually just a courtesy, and the person asking does not really expect a lengthy reply. Saying “I’m doing great,” is a courteous response because both people can carry on their way and avoid an awkward situation. Furthermore, a person could argue against my ideas of
In society, some people are looked at as liars or “bullshitters,” as stated in the article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Honesty is not always the best policy, and in certain situations, liars are best not to tell the truth when protecting the innocent, or protecting oneself. Because of this, lying should be looked at as a standard in society and something that people recognize in every day life.
Kant defends the principle that we should never lie, even if our doing so could prevent a death. He believes the expression “to have a right to the truth” to have no meaning and argues that people should rather say that a man has a right to his own truthfulness (603). For him, truth in utterances that cannot be avoided is the formal duty of a man no matter how bad are the consequences (603). According to him, what the jurists believe to be a lie, that is an intentionally false declaration towards another man that must hurt another, is not proper because a lie always injures another (604). He thinks that whoever tells a lie, however good his intentions are, is responsible for the consequences and must pay the penalty (604). He argues that to be truthful in all declarations is a “sacred unconditional command of reason” (604).
Using Kantian philosophy a lie is always immoral and wrong, no matter what the situation is. Kantian ethics establishes the idea that good will be based on the action itself rather than outcome or any inclination one may have to perform an act could be good will.
Kantianism allows a person to lie if the situation is crucial like saving a life but what if all situations just so happens to "save a life?" By following this logic, the world might as well be lying to "save a life" because it fits the second formulation even if the person lying was called out on it. People would have no proof if the person lied or
Throughout life, people are faced with moral decisions that will impact not only themselves but also, the people they surround themselves with. One of these moral decisions people encounter daily is truthfulness in their actions and words. In Blackburn’s novel, “Being Good”, he states “It is not easy to find a stable attitude to the stringency of the prohibition of lying.” I agree with his quote because everyone tends to lie no matter the magnitude of the lie, in order to protect themselves and the people they care about. Although Blackburn believes it is only ethical to lie on occasion, German philosopher, Immanuel Kant affirms that lying is always morally wrong, no matter what the situation is. Though lying can be seen as a deplorable action,
Kant’s argues that his Categorical Imperative (CI) or, more properly, his multiple versions of the CI are universal in the sense that they apply to everyone at all times. If the CI actually is universal in this sense, it fulfills one of the major traits necessary for a moral principle (Pojman 7). The vagueness of the CI, however, makes its universalizability hard to assess. To simplify the issue, this paper will examine Kant’s response to Benjamin Constant’s objections to telling a murderer the truth. That examination will expose how the CI falls short of its claim as a universal principle through inevitable contradiction and, working from Kant’s own strategy of consequence-based reasoning,
In the article “Is Lying Bad for Us”, Richard Gunderman persuades his readers the effect of lying can have on our daily lives. He expresses strong opinions towards being honest and how lying has negative consequences on not only our mental health but
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
The question of what constitutes morality is often asked by philosophers. One might wonder why morality is so important, or why many of us trouble ourselves over determining which actions are moral actions. Mill has given an account of the driving force behind our questionings of morality. He calls this driving force “Conscience,” and from this “mass of feeling which must be broken through in order to do what violates our standard of right,” we have derived our concept of morality (Mill 496). Some people may practice moral thought more often than others, and some people may give no thought to morality at all. However, morality is nevertheless a possibility of human nature, and a very important one. We each have our standards of right and wrong, and through the reasoning of individuals, these standards have helped to govern and shape human interactions to what it is today. No other beings except “rational beings,” as Kant calls us, are able to support this higher capability of reason; therefore, it is important for us to consider cases in which this capability is threatened. Such a case is lying. At first, it seems that lying should not be morally permissible, but the moral theories of Kant and Mill have answered both yes and no on this issue. Furthermore, it is difficult to decide which moral theory provides a better approach to this issue. In this paper, we will first walk through the principles of each moral theory, and then we will consider an example that will explore the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.
The right to lie predisposes the society to a place where an individual can lie in order to achieve his/her own desires while in complete disregard to other people’s interest. The Kantian principle seeks to ensure that people are treated respectfully as independent, rational, and moral beings. Through such kind of treatment, a person’s sense of dignity is respected and valued, which is an essential element of personhood. The right to lie violates the Kantian principle through deny a person the rational, moral, and independent choice of his/her essential personhood. Therefore, the right to lie should be denied in order to ensure that people are not treated as means of accomplishing some personal goals and desires at the expense of
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
Kant viewed lying as a moral atrocity and there were never any reasons to lie. In fact, Kant believed “ that lying under any circumstances is “the obliteration of one’s dignity as a human being.”” (Rachels 2016 p139) The second most important was Kent’s rule is based on no exceptions. In Kent’s eye’s if we accept lying even as an exception, we then embrace it as natural law and conclude lying is okay for any and all reasons. If people accepted lying as natural law, then no one would take anyone’s word seriously, thus creating a cycle of disorder throughout society and the cycle in which society operates.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
Growing up, we are always told to never lie because it is the worst thing you could ever do. “Lying will only lead to a horrible situation with less than mediocre results. While lying is not always good, it is not always bad either. Samuel Butler once said “Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a