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In this essay, arguing against the position of Benjamin Constant, Des réactions politiques, Kant states that: [2]. Hence a lie defined merely as an intentionally untruthful declaration to another man does not require the additional condition that it must do harm to another, as jurists require in their definition (mendacium est falsiloquium in praeiudicium alterius).
For Constant, freedom in the sense of the Ancients "consisted of the active and constant participation in the collective power" and consisted in "exercising, collectively, but directly, several parts of the whole sovereignty" and, except in Athens, they thought that this vision of liberty was compatible with "the complete subjection of the individual to the authority of the whole". [1]
This type of untruth was condemned by Kant in On a supposed right to lie. Kant was debating against Benjamin Constant, who had claimed, from a consequentialist stance opposed to Kant's categorical imperative, that: "To tell the truth is thus a duty; but it is only in respect to one who has a right to the truth. But no one has a right to a truth ...
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (French: [ɑ̃ʁi bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ kɔ̃stɑ̃ də ʁəbɛk]; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
If they are acting on a bad maxim—e.g., 'I will lie'—then their action is wrong, even if some good consequences come of it. In his essay, "On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns", arguing against the position of Benjamin Constant, Des réactions politiques, Kant states that: [16]
A Russian deserter who was an officer at a top-secret nuclear weapons facility spoke with the BBC. He described an atmosphere of paranoia, with personnel subjected to lie-detector tests.
Benjamin Constant Botelho de Magalhães (18 October 1836 – 22 January 1891) was a Brazilian military officer and political thinker. Primarily a positivist, influenced heavily by Auguste Comte, he was the founder of the positivist movement in Brazil (Sociedade Positivista do Brasil, Brazilian Positivist Society), and later this led to his republican views.
Benjamin-Constant painted Pope Leo XIII, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (1901), Lord John Lumley-Savile, and Henri Blowitz (1902). He was made a member of the institute in 1893, and was a commander of the Legion of Honor. He visited the United States several times, and painted a number of portraits.