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Lying In Kant's Categorical Imperative

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Kant’s Categorical Imperative
How does lying violate Kant’s formulation? When a person tells a lie it is often seen as being dishonest and, in some cases, can affect the most important quality in a human, which is the ability to make their own choices. Therefore, with each lie a person tells contradicts a part of them that gives that person a moral worth. For instance, if I was to tell a lie and it lead a person to a decision that they would have otherwise not have chosen, had they known the truth, I would have harmed that person’s human dignity and autonomy. The person doing the lying only robs others of their choices. Kant said, in order, for us to value ourselves and others as a means instead of an end, we need to have perfect duties to avoid damaging, interfering with, or misusing the ability to make free decisions, which means –no lying. There …show more content…

Kant explains that we should be able to distinguish which actions are moral, and which are not. 1. Formula of Universal Law is best described from this statement, “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction” (Kant, 1785, 1993). A maxim is a rule or principal on which you choose to act. It says that you are not allowed to do anything yourself that you would not be willing to allow everyone else to do as well. If we expect others to keep their promises, then we are obligated to ours as well. The Formula of the End, “We should always treat humans solely as an ends, and never as a means to an end” meaning that a person cannot morally be used as an object. This formulation can have both a positive and negative impact. The Formula of Autonomy says that we should live by the rules in a community and we all respect each other. A place to where one must choose to act by maxims that imply absolute

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In the articles, “Brad Blanton:Honestly, Tell the Truth,” by Barbara Ballinger and “Rejecting all lies:Immanuel Kant,” by Sissela Bok they both think the same as well except Kant thinks even in life or death situations don’t lie. In the article,”Brad Blanton:Honestly Tell the Truth,” it shows that lying can be very stressful. As Blanton said,”Because it keeps you locked in the jail of your own mind”(Ballinger 7). This shows it can be stressful because since you lie, the truth somewhat wants to come out.

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Dictionary. Com defines lying, as a false statement made with a deliberate intent to deceive; and intentional untruth; a falsehood. I believe lying is only acceptable to protect and care for others. Certain lies are okay, if they are used correctly.

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Humans are born with a set of instinctive behaviors that come naturally and are organic. As the world develops, instincts become absolute and new instincts are developed. In our current society, lying can occur automatically, for many reasons. Lying has become part of the human race’s overall demeanor, some may even call it a second nature and do it unintentionally. We see why telling the truth should be prefered over lying, when it comes to protecting others, in the novel “Feed” by M.T Anderson.

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According to Categorical Imperative, what would it be like if everyone started making false promises and it became a universal law? It would be a undesirable situation where the very notion of ‘promise’ would collapse. Therefore, it is a duty of every rational being not to make a lying promise. Such duties are called strict duties to others. Strict Duties to self : A man is in a very miserable condition.

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This quote says that lying happens frequently; no one can resist it. It also says lying is deadly, which is also shown in the Bible within the story of Adam and Eve, when the serpent lies to Eve, convincing her to consume the sacred fruit. In modern society, lying is a common practice. A person may lie protect themselves, or to gain something wanted. This may be due to religious diversity or the decay of respect in society.

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The Goal of Immortality “The yearning for immortality dates back at least to ancient times”(Church 60). In an ancient text The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh sets out on a quest for immortality after he sees his friend Enkidu perish. He travels very far and eventually reaches his destination. There, he finds out that his immortality will not be achievable.

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Kant’s being of the categorical imperative with its three formulations, and Mill’s principle of utility. Both of their principles are incorporated with a kind of universality; Kant’s case that of restricting one’s rules of action to those that one can will to be a universal law of nature, and Mill’s case considering the consequences of a type of actions for humans and creatures. The two of them have a two-stage conception of moral thinking: a critical stage and an application stage. Their proposed ‘duties to others’ correspond with one another by being not to lie, to be beneficent, not to steal, and not to deprive others of

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Many people have told lies and been told lies ,however the biggest lie of all is lying to oneself. Everyone has been told to share the truth because even though the truth will hurt others now, a carried out lie will hurt them a lot more in the future. It 's better to do right than to live in lies such as don 't hide all your faults they won 't just go away, you need to learn from your mistakes. In Les Miserables and The Kite Runner a man 's reputation is not as important as his family. As in giving up yourself for another and to be happy, like leaving your homeland where you are known and in charge to become a working man and make your family happy.

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There are multiple definitions for the word religion. Religion can be the belief in God or even a group of Gods. Religion is also a system of beliefs, rules, and even ceremonies that are very important to people. A religion is something that is usually developed as a child. Religion has a lot to do with your culture and your surroundings that you grew up around such as your family and even your child hood friends.

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Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims.

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Kant basic rule or idea is that we have a duty to do that which is right; and that if we want to determine whether or not an action is morally acceptable, all we need to do is consider whether or not it makes sense for us to recommend to everybody should do whatever we are considering. Kant argues and gives circumstances that may lead one to desire to promise to do something he really has no intention of doing. So, he considers whether it would be acceptable as a law for everyone to make promises that they have no intention of keeping. Considering the result that promises would be completely void of meaning, Kant sees that lying can't be a law, and so, cannot be morally condoned. That's one of Kant’s main points of his rule.

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Someone who disagrees might say that it is not okay to do that(to lie) and that it is not okay. Kant might say that lying is never justified or immortal. Some people would say that if you lie then you can ruin some relationships and friendships. What is wrong with this argument?What is wrong with this argument is that many people would not get evidence or proof that lying is wrong because most people lie and that means that they were taught to lie and that means that their parent or parents that that it was okay to lie.

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(Text.pg.116) Lies are morally wrong, for two reasons. First, lying corrupts the most important quality of being human: your ability to make free, rational choices is deprived of you the moment you tell a lie. Each lie you tell contradicts the part of you that gives you moral worth. Second, lies deprive others of their freedom to choose rationally. When your lie leads people to decide other than they would have had they known the truth, you have harmed their human dignity and autonomy.

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Kant and the Lying Promise In “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals”, Kant explores the subject of duty and the binding force of morality. Kant explores the morality of among many cases, this paper being focused particularly on the case of the lying promise. To determine the morality of such action, Kant provides the Formula of Universal Law, which relies on a maxim passing four steps in order to be considered moral.

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Thus, from a young age, children harbor “utilitarian perspective about the moral values of lying and truth-telling, at least in the politeness situations,” even if parents eschew lying (Fengling Ma, Fen Xu, Gail D. Heyman, and Kang Lee). Parallelly, since the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow, adults frequently employ deception in order to be polite. In “Lying in Everyday Life,” a group of participants confessed that their lies were generally not serious and, moreover, 70% admitted that they would tell them again (DePaulo, Bella M., Deborah A. Kashy, Susan E. Kirkendol, and Melissa M. Wyer 991). Without doubt, these types of inoffensive—and advantageous—lies act as a social lubricant, avoid unwanted social, personal, or relational mistakes

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