A white lie can be characterized simply as a well-intentioned

untruth. It is generally regarded as a good and moral

practice that people use to get out of compromising and
awkward situations, to avoid hurting the feelings of other
people, or for some other valiant purpose. However, such
notion of the white lie is at odds with Immanuel Kants moral
theory.
In Professor Sandels video lecture on Lesson in Lying, he
assailed the general notion that a white lie comes within
what is good and moral. Under Kants theory, a white lie is
impermissible. Although it tends to effectuate good ends, it
is still ultimately a lie, and for Kant, lies are violations of the
moral law and are therefore impermissible regardless of
their ends.
Sandel defended Kants standpoint in the issue through the
Murderer at the Door. In this story, a man was confronted
by a murdered asking the location of his friend who was in
fact hiding in his house. It was in that moment that the man
was confronted with a moral dilemma: whether lying could
be justified if it was told so as to save his friend from a
serious threat or would it still be against the moral law?
While many people would generally answer such question by
justifying a white lie to save his friend, Kant would rule that
such was against the moral law since it was still a lie,
regardless if it was well-intentioned. Instead, Kant would
endorse an alternative that was consistent with the moral
law - a misleading truth.
For Immanuel Kant, there is a significant moral difference
between white lies and misleading truths. While tend to
effectuate the same purpose or end, the latter would be
within Kants categorical imperative since misleading truths
are not strictly lies, but merely clever evasions that still
speak of truth. This is because Kant based morality on
formal adherence to the moral law and not consequences.
He argued that once a person takes into account the
consequences, then that person gives up the whole moral
framework and becomes a consequentialist. Unlike a white
lie, a misleading truth pays homage to duty which justifies
the evasion as there is still some element of respect for the
dignity of the moral law. Such element is not present in a
white lie. For this reason, Kant would endorse a misleading
truth but never a white lie.
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