Quote:
Originally Posted by lofhay
I choose to be skeptical about all claims to knowledge or truth which can not be verified by scientific means and which do not meet the test of reason. This is enough for me.
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Okay, here's an idea from Immanuel Kant on morality. His conclusion is that lying is always, universally and necessarily wrong. No exceptions. His argument asks us to begin with the premise: "Lying is not wrong." (His argument is a
reductio ad absurdum.) This premise is generally assumed to be true, so we decide to adopt it as a rule for living and interacting with each other.
You begin to realize that given the rule we've adopted, you can no longer believe anything anyone tells you because someone might be employing the rule and thus be lying to you. Since you can no longer believe anyone, you discover that no one can lie to you. Concludes Kant, the rule that allows lying makes lying impossible. Thus, the rule that allows lying must be false, so its negation must be true: "Lying is wrong." (We get this from negating "Lying is not wrong" ending up with "Lying is not not wrong," or simply "Lying is wrong."
Now I am absolutely certain that lying is wrong.