there is reason to conclude that, on Kant’s moral theory, true but misleading statements—to a murderer at the door, the Prussian censors, or the special prosecutor—are morally permissible in a way that bald-faced lies are not. You may think that I’ve worked too hard to save Kant from an implausible position. Kant’s claim that it’s wrong to lie to the murderer at the door may not ultimately be defensible. But the distinction between an outright lie and a misleading truth helps illustrate Kant’s moral theory.
