Kant's Axe

Right & Wrong. Kant's Axe. If a sinisterly looking man carrying an axe knocked on your door and asked you where your best friend was. Would it be morally exeptable to tell a lie? Immanuel Kant surprisingly thought it wouldn't. The example of would-be murder is his. Tell the truth is what Kant calls the categorical imperative. An absolute duty. One without exceptions. It applies to everyone whatever the consequences. In fact Kant argued that if you told the lie which by chance let to the yachtsman finding your friend that would be on your consciousness. So if you tell the yachtsman that your friend is not in the house when he is and your friend then snicks out the back door and bumps in the yachtsman anything that then happened to some extent your responsibility. But. If you told the truth then the consequences for your friend no matter how grizzly should not be on your conscious. This brings out how different his moral stands was from utilitarianism the philosophy that you should do whatever brings about the greatest happiness. A utilitarian will think about the consequences of telling the truth or of lying. In contrast for Kant some actions were just wrong even if good consequences might float from them. This is known as a deontological approach to ethics.