Kant’s theory on morals prohibits lying in all circumstances. In fact, Kant’s view on lying is that even when there is a murderer at the doorstep who is wondering if the innocent victim is in one’s room, he or she is not supposed to lie. According to Immanuel Kant, human beings have a moral responsibility of being truthful throughout their lives (Kant, 2010). Kant’s view on this subject of lying is that the nature of human reason makes it necessary for them to be truthful in their lives. If people are able to think about the way they should behave in a rational manner then it is possible to clearly see that there are actions that are quite unreasonable. For instance, lying is classified as an unreasonable action.
The unique thing about Kant’s theory on morality is that he goes a step further and makes a supreme rational principle, which should guide people in clearly telling what is right and wrong. This principle is what he referred to as the categorical imperative. In general terms, the categorical imperative is a framework for evaluating motivations for an action (Kant, 2010). This principle provides that a person must only act based on a motivation, which he or she may be willing to have it become a universal law. Based on this principle of categorical imperative, it is wrong for a human being to be deceitful because he or she cannot wish for every other person to be a liar. Therefore, the categorical imperative forbids lying because no person would be willing to have all people in the society to become liars (Kant, 2010). Moreover, no one can love the feeling of being told lies. Nobody likes listening to lies and being a victim of deceit.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
However, I do not agree with Kant’s view on lying because it is highly theoretical and misses a sense of practicality. In the practical world, virtually everybody is a liar. In the modern world, people thrive on lies. Somebody will cheat if that is the only way can achieve a given goal in life. For instance, the political field is filled with deceitful manifestos meant to hoodwink the electorate during campaigns. Virtually all politicians lie to the voters about what they will do for them after being elected. The lies are only meant to gain victory in elections. The business world is also full of deceitful people. There are many conmen using deceitful means to extort money from those who are gullible. Therefore, the whole capitalist world is now based on lies. Being very truthful, as Kant suggests, is a sign of gullibility. Lying is necessary today in order to survive in this world where only the fittest achieve survival.
Moreover, I disagree with Kant because his categorical imperative reduces to mere egoism. Categorical imperative advocates for the egoistic principle that one should not do to others what he or she does not expect done himself or herself. I think that human morality and actions should be based on sympathy for others and selflessness. This is the best guiding principle if the world has to uphold high morals. However, Kant rejects the role of sympathy as a motive for true moral actions. Kant believes that sympathy is an unreliable feeling hence cannot be the foundation for morality.
In conclusion, while I believe that, in principle, human beings were meant to be truthful in all circumstances of their lives, I disagree that this condition is practically applicable in the modern world, which highly perverted. Being truthful is simply portraying high level of gullibility. Moreover, the categorical imperative is egoistic hence cannot be a good foundation for morality.
References
Kant, I. (2010). Groundwork of the metaphysic of morals . New York, . NY: Harper & Row .
