Kant and Maria von Herbert: Reticence vs. deception

The exchange of letters in the 1790s between Kant and Maria von Herbert, a young Austrian noblewoman devoted to Kant's critical philosophy is examined, wherein she argues that Kant ignored the main request of Herbert's letters that life has value. It is argued that there is a principled distinction to be drawn between lies and reticence and that Kant provides an argument for such a distinction, lying is necessarily deceptive whereas reticence is not necessarily deceptive.