In his 1797 “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Love of Humanity”, Immanuel Kant argues that, when only a confident lie might save a friend, one must, if asked, reply truthfully and thus betray his hiding place to the person who wants to kill him.
In this talk, Jens Timmermann will examine the historical background of the piece as well as the peculiarities of Constant’s version of the case and Kant’s core argument against Constant: that lying, or a right to lie, would undermine contractual rights and spell disaster for human society.