Introductory Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Introductory Ethics - Essay Example Kant cites another example of refusing to help others in pursuit of their projects. This maxim according to Kant easily passes the contradiction in conception test but fails to pass the final test of contradiction in will. According to this maxim it is our duty to help people sometimes but only to a certain extent, not in each and every given situation. Kant further cites the example of a perfect duty in keeping the promises you have made to others but actually have little intention of actually keeping the promise. There is a self-contradiction maxim in this intention of making a promise to achieve some kind of desired purpose, but with no intention of keeping it. The contradiction is in the fact that this maxim cannot become a Universal law, because it would then imply that one has to lie every time, in order to achieve the desired result. A.2. In the "murderer at the door" maxim Kant imagines a number of coincidences that may occur when you reply honestly to the murderer's questions. He states that when the person at the door is answering the questions of the murderer, whether the victim is at home, it is likely that the victim may have secretly left the house and thus will not get in the way of the murderer and as a result the murder might not take place at all.