I Kant Murder
Reader: Does God ever command murder under any set of circumstances? Immanuel Kant states never, and I would agree. A Pandora’s box would be opened that you could not handle. These questions are academic and I am interested in your response. Thank you, Morris
Mesora: We learn from recorded history that God Himself flooded the Earth; He destroyed Sodom’s inhabitants, and commanded the Jews to kill others as punishments, or to secure a moral society. We need not resort to theories not based on transmission of prophecy, when we have them in our possession in the form of the Torah.
When a society or an individual places others at risk, they are rightfully, and justly removed. For example, I am certain Kant would desire the execution of his would-be murderer. For Kant, as you quote him, seems to imply that murder is an evil, thus, God would never do evil. But if God desires there be no evil, then should not God desire that Kant be spared if he was innocent? Hence, Kant must be consistent and desire that his would-be murderer not perform that evil.
Kant confuses what are “absolutes”: the absolute is that “good should exist”. We arrive at the conclusion that at times, murder is a true good, against Kant’s idea that murder is an absolute evil and unapproachable by God. Both, historical fact, and reasoning expose a fallacy in Kant’s philosophy.