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How did Kant use false promises to explain the universal-law test?

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Immanuel Kant German philosopher Immanuel Kant surrounded by Ouroboros, an emblematic serpent of ancient Egypt and Greece, engraving by John Chapman, published in London, 1812.

Immanuel Kant used the example of a false promise to demonstrate the application of his categorical imperative, specifically the test of whether a maxim can be willed as a universal law.1

To apply this test, Kant considered a person who plans to obtain money by making a promise they have no intention of keeping. The maxim of this action is: "Make false promises when it suits you to do so".1

Kant argued that this maxim fails the universal-law test because it is self-defeating. If the act of making false promises were to become a universal law, the very institution of promising would lose its meaning, as no one would rely on such promises. Because the practice of promising would cease to exist under this universalized maxim, the action is logically inconsistent and therefore morally impermissible. This illustrates Kant’s deontological approach, where the morality of an action is determined by its adherence to a rule that can be consistently willed for all rational beings, rather than by its consequences.1