 For Kant, there is a close connection between the nature of moral truths—in particular, their prescriptive content (i.e., what they direct one to do), as well as their necessity and universality—and the way in which we discover those truths, namely, a priori. In his view, one can discover a maximally general, fundamental moral principle. This is a principle that he calls “the categorical imperative”. Kant holds it can be known through reason alone, specifically, via a transcendental argument (see entries on  Kant’s moral philosophy  and  transcendental arguments).  He held that we could then deduce more specific, but still general moral truths from this fundamental principle. Kant provides various formulations of the categorical imperative, the first being that one ought to act only in accordance with a  maxim[3]  that one can at the same time will to become a universal law—roughly, an act ought to be done by someone only if the person could will, without contradiction, that everyone act as he or she is acting. Examples of more specific principles he deduces from the categorical imperative are that one ought not make lying promises or commit suicide. Kant’s discussion of lying promises nicely illustrates how the categorical imperative works: A person in some difficulty is considering making a promise he knows he cannot keep to escape the difficulty. To apply the categorical imperative, the person must consider what would happen if everyone in some difficulty made a lying promise to escape. If so many lying promises were made, no one would believe a person who promised to do something, so under these conditions one could not escape a difficulty by making a promise. Hence, the person could not consistently will that his maxim be a universal law, since making it a universal law would frustrate his aim in making the lying promise. Therefore, one ought not escape a difficulty by making a lying promise.