Kant 300: “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy” (Live Reading)

"Truthfulness in statements that one cannot avoid is a human being's duty to everyone, however great the disadvantage to him or to another that may result from it ..." - Kant

Many comment on Kant's infamous murderer at the door example, but not many are familiar with the context in which it appears. This will hopefully be a useful opportunity to discuss the topic of lying and its nuances in Kant more broadly with concern to how rights are concerned as well as ethics.

Note: We will have two meetings on this text, so expect the first meeting to cover about half of the text.

The text can be found quite easily by googling it. I'll be reading from the text as it appears in Cambridge's collection of Kant's "Practical Philosophy"

The title of the text is sometimes translated as "On a Supposed Right to Tell Lies from Benevolent Motives" or "On a Supposed Right to Lie because of Philanthropic Concerns"

PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/d7be559ff61b09b0a414875261a5ee60

There are numerous editions (and free translations available online), but this collection contains all of Kant's Practical Philosophy in translation:
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Philosophy-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521654084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445894099&sr=8-1