Immanuel Kant's Lying: Right Or Wrong?

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Lying: Right or wrong?

Lying is morally forbidden under any and all circumstances. These are words that Immanuel Kant believed and preached. Kant did not believe a person should lie even if good consequences could result from the lie. According to Kant we are morally obligated to be honest. He was a man who was set in his beliefs and lying was simply not tolerated. Kant did not believe that there was any morally correct way to lie. He held that even in extreme cases of an “Inquiring Murderer” we must still tell the truth. Even if lying to that “Inquiring Murderer” could save someone’s life, telling the truth is the morally right thing to do.

Kant’s assertion that one must tell the truth no matter the consequences comes from the moral principle of the categorical imperative. Categorical imperatives are absolute commands that we ought to follow, period. Kant believed that lying fell under …show more content…

At the end of the day lying always catches up to you and ultimately doesn’t do you any good. With that being said in my daily duties as a police officer I am often required to lie in order to do my job effectively. As a police officer my ultimate goal is to catch the bad guy and solve the crime. Unfortunately sometimes that means lying or deceiving in order to achieve that goal.

I do agree mostly with Kant as I don’t believe people should lie. People should tell the truth in all circumstances as it would eliminate suspicion and I believe overall people would be happier. Unfortunately that is not how society works. Good people, bad people, all people lie in some way or another at some point. This truth is what makes my job so difficult and what makes me resort to tactics that I personally don’t agree with. At the end of the day it’s about doing my job and unfortunately there are times where my job interferes with my sense of morality. Is this right? For me it is, for others absolutely

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