lying in ethics

apparently, according to Kant, you are not supposed to lie for any reason whatsoever. even in dire situations. even if it is in the best interest of the other person (person meaning, anyone who has the ability to reason and make educated decisions).

the example that came kept coming up is when people ask if what they are wearing looks good. in no way should a person lie to the questioner...regardless of how fugly they look. because when you lie to someone, you with hold information from them, taking away their ability to make informed decisions because what they have to base off of is what you told them.

of course this makes sense. but this is also really ridiculous. wtf. wtf?

also, Kant says that morals are put in place by what is universalized. and by universalized, it means something that you would want everyone to do. like you can't universalize lying because it's not something everyone should do.

if you universalized lying, the world couldn't function. because in reality, the world runs on trust. if everyone lied all the time and everyone knew that everyone lied, lying would not work. lying only works because people believe in trust and truth. which is really kind of confusing but makes sense.

shit.