Kant and the scandalous topic of lying: a different reading from the philosophy of law

Authors

  • Dulce María Granja Castro
  • Eduardo Charpenel Elorduy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5944/endoxa.29.2012.5309

Keywords:

Benjamin Constant, declarations, lies, deception, duty,

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present an interpretation of Kant’s essay On a Supposed Right to Lie for Philanthropy grounded on the fundamental concepts of his own philosophy of law. By means of this reading, we will explain why many commentators have failed to the see what was at stake in the debate between Kant and the French jurist Benjamin constant. In our understanding, the two main points that Kant tries to defend in the until-now infamous essay are the nature of juridical declarations and the impossibility of a duty or an obligation to lie in a legal context. The theses that we will try to defend are, on the one hand, that the validity of the Kantian position regarding both subjects does not depend, in any sense whatsoever, on his flawed treatment of the polemical example that he discusses, and on the other hand, that both topics are of great relevance in order to understand adequately how juridical institutions should impart justice.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2012-06-01

How to Cite

Granja Castro, D. M., & Charpenel Elorduy, E. (2012). Kant and the scandalous topic of lying: a different reading from the philosophy of law. ENDOXA, 1(29), 15–44. https://doi.org/10.5944/endoxa.29.2012.5309

Issue

No. 29 (2012)

Section

Papers and Texts

License

The authors who publish in this journal must agree to the following terms:

  • The authors hold author’s rights and guarantee the journal the right to be the first to publish the work as well as the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows others to share the work as long as they acknowledge the authorship of the work and its initial publication in this journal.
  • The authors can establish, on their own, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), always acknowledging the initial publication in this journal.
  • The authors are allowed and encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own webpages) before and during the submission process, as this can give rise to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and increased citing of the works published (See The Effect of Open Access).