following if you were to do that action. (This will be the "maxim of the act.) Then you have to ask whether you would be willing for that rule to be followed by all people all times. (That would make it a "universal law" in the relevant sense.) If so, the rule may a be followed, and the act is permissible. However, if you would not be willing for everyone to follow the rule, then you may not follow it, and the act is morally impermissible Kant gives several examples to explain how this works Suppose, he says, a man needs to borrow money, and he know that no one will lend it to him unless he promises to he also knows that he will be unable to therefore faces this problem: Should he promise to repay the debt knowing that he cannot do so, in order to persuade someone to make the loan? If he were to do that, the "maxim of the ac (the rule he would be following) would be: Whenever you need a loan, promise to repay it, regardless of whether you be- lieve you actually can repay it. Now, could this rule become a universal law? Obviously not, because it would be self-defeating Once this became a universal practice, no one would any longer believe such promises, and so no one would make loans because of them. As Kant himself puts it, "No one would b lieve what was promised to him but would only laugh at any such assertion as vain pretense Another of Kant's examples has to do with giving ai Suppose, he says, someone refuses to help others in need, say- ing to himself, "What concern of mine is it? Let each one be happy as heaven wills, or as he can make himself, I will no take anything from him or even envy him; but to his welfare or to his assistance in time of need I have no desire to contribut This, again, is a rule that one cannot will to be a un law. For at some time in the future, this man will himself be in need of assistance from others, and he would not want others to be so indifferent to him 8.3. Absolute Rules and the Duty Not to Lie Being a moral agent, then, means guiding one's universal laws moral rules that hold, exception, without all circumstances. thought that the rule against