Fichte's world of wordless lies

Roy Arnold Sorensen*, Quentin Parker Pharr

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Catholics condemn Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) as a fanatic; he fails to cushion ‘Never lie' with a distinction between venial and mortal sin. But Kant has secular substitutes: lie/mislead, candor/honesty, commission/omission, deception/illusion, discursive/pictorial. Kant weaves these distinctions into a safety net for polite society, business, politics, and religion. Kant's break-away disciple, Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) removes this safety net. Any intentional propagation of error suffices for lying. Ditto for refraining to correct a remedial error. Why? Because we all have a duty to perfect each other. This moral development requires rational informed choice. Being misinformed subverts freedom. The medium of misinformation is irrelevant: utterances, silences, pictures, music, dance, private thoughts, telepathy. To Fichte's relief, Kant overcame the temptation to save an innocent man from murder by lying. But Fichte still thought Kant manifested a corrupt mind by merely considering lying!
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages23
JournalInquiry
VolumeLatest Articles
Early online date19 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 19 Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Fichte
  • Kant
  • Assertion
  • Lie
  • Experimental philosophy

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