Abstract

This chapter explains Kant's opposition to lying and the reasons why deceitfulness is such a serious Kantian vice. Kant thinks that when we tell lies, we are fundamentally misusing reason in a way that he sees as a devaluing of our dignity, resting as it does on our rational capacities. This is why he considers a propensity to lie to be a vice, one that is contrary to what we owe ourselves as rational beings. Lying is also contrary to the duties we owe to other rational beings. But there is still more to Kant's concern about truthfulness, which is that it is foundational to the possibility of human community, as well as its progress. Essentially, a bunch of liars cannot form a functional society.