Should We Lie in the Name of
Love? Truth Isn't Above Human Duties
of Love and Wisdom
Kant Categorical
Imperatives
Kant, the great German philosopher of the eighteenth
century, was an indefectible defender of reason. Reason
dignifies us, ennobles us, turns us into superior beings.
Accordingly, our reason should conceive rules, such as «Do
not lye in any occasion» which he called «categorical
imperatives» and to which we should obey piously.
Kant didn’t admit exceptions to these imperatives, settled
by reason. Only then they were «categorical».To be faithful
to truth, in particular, was a kind of non-breakable,
scientific postulate, to which we should obey in all
circumstances, even if it is a cause of avoidable suffering,
even if it benefits those who do not deserve, or damages
poor and weak people. To Kant, our human dignity depends on
it.
But should we always face truth in Kant’s terms? Should we
face the Kantian categorical imperatives abstractly, even if
they cost us our life, or represent unhappiness, or extreme
sacrifices and pain?
Should we – in the name of the categorical imperative of
truth - denounce a member of our family to a murder? Should
we reveal to the dying person his true condition? Is it
illegitimate to lie to the criminals that pursue and torment
innocent people?
The humanist answer must be no. The truth that causes
unnecessary suffering to the moribund or to innocents is
cruelty. Not to lie to murderers is cruelty and foolish
collaborationism. The «categorical imperatives» can and
should be broken.
There are, of course, many cases when truth should be
defended, despite its costs in terms of pain and suffering.
We can’t lie to ourselves, and deny reality, just to live
comfortably in our dreams – as creationist ones, postulating
that we aren’t descendants of apes and ultimately from
bacteria. We can’t lie to ourselves and deny such scientific
truths. But we also can’t put truth above all. Truth can’t
be above our duties of love and wisdom.
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Quotations
Categorical Imperatives. Truth and Lies
The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is
possible to lie, and even to murder, for the truth.
Alfred Adler, 1870-1937, Austrian psychiatrist, The problem
of neurosis
Woe to those who place above love the criminal truth of
informing! Woe to the brutes who always speak the truth! Woe to
those who have never lied!
Someone who tells a dying person that he is going to die lies:
first, literally, because he simply doesn’t know, because only
God knows, because no man has the right to tell another man he
is going to die.
Poor, lonely people should not be made to suffer; this is more
important than anything else, including truth.
V. Jankélévitch, 1903-1985, French essayiste, Traité des
vertus
It is better to lie than to torture, better to lie than to
terrify. Truth cannot take the place of everything.
André Comte-Sponville, French philosopher, A short Treatise
on the Great Virtues
Everything must not be said, for that would be folly; but what
one says should be what one thinks, otherwise it is knavery.
Montaigne, 1533-1592, French philosopher, Essays
One cannot legitimately lie to oneself, for to do so is to value
oneself more than the truth, to value one’s comfort or good
conscience more than one’s mind.
André Comte-Sponville, French philosopher, A short Treatise
on the Great Virtues
It is not truth that makes man great, but man who makes truth
great.
Confucius, 551- 479 b. C., Chinese philosopher, Analects
It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to
hear.
Henry D. Thoreau, 1817-1862, American writer, A Week on the
Concord and Merrimack Rivers
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Love and Truth? See also:
Men Love
Trivialities, banalities, lies, common sense...
Press, news and lack of Love to truth,
humility, tolerance...
Humans love myths and dreams, not the true
knowing
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