The point of the controversy is the interpretation of kant's article, "on a supposed right to lie from altruistic motives." my paper maintains: (1) that kant's interpreters, including w. schwarz, so far have failed to recognize the essential distinction kant makes between truth and truthfulness; (2) that apart from the historical context the disregard of this distinction has a demoralizing effect on man because it has penetrated and underlies all moral decisions as illustrated by two contemporary political situations.

Dr. Heimo Hofmeister is the Chair of Philosophy in the Protestant Theology Faculty at the University of Heidgelberg, and has twice served as the Dean of that faculty. One of the most significant figures in contemporary German philosophy and ethics, he has recently published landmark works in medical ethics and the nature of warfare. A Russian translation of this book has already been published in 2000 and a second edition in German came out at the same time, and is almost (...) sold out. This is the much awaited, first English translation of Dr. Heimo Hofmeister's groundbreaking work. (shrink)