Kant's Thoughts On Morality

Kant believes that our motives are controlled by reason, and he proves this as he writes, "There is no possibility of thinking of anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be regarded as good without qualification, except a good will."

Kant admits that doubt can always be raised as to the possibility of our ever acting from a disinterested sense of duty, that "there have always been philosophers who have absolutely denied the reality of this disposition in human actions and have ascribed everything to a more or less refined self-love." Kant is poking fun at the egoists as he says this but he acknowledges, "We like to flatter ourselves with the false claim to a more noble motive; but in fact we can never, even by the strictest examination, completely plumb the depths of the secret incentives of our actions." Kant proves the egoists wrong in their thinking that they control their actions and that "even if there never have been actions springing from such pure sources, the question at issue here is not whether this or that has happened but that reason of itself and independently of all experience commands what ought to happen. Consequently, reason unrelentingly commands actions of which the world has perhaps hitherto never provided an example and whose feasibility might well be doubted by one who bases everything upon experience."

Kant quickly points out that one must not lie. Kant defines a "lie" as any "intentional untruthful declaration to another person" and claims that it is always harmful in barring other persons from access to the truth. A French utilitarian (Benjamin Constant) asks Kant to consider whether, in Kant's mind, it would not be right to lie to a murderer who asks whether our friend, who he means to kill, is hiding in our house. Kant sticks with his opinion and responds that "To be truthful (honest) in all declarations, therefore, is a sacred and absolutely commanding decree of reason, limited by no expediency," including human life.