Full Idea
De Sade trumpeted far and wide the impossibility of deriving from reason any fundamental argument against murder.
Gist of Idea
De Sade said it was impossible to rationally argue against murder
Source
T Adorno / M Horkheimer (Dialectic of Enlightenment [1944], p.118)
A Reaction
[They focus on 'Juliette'] This is a big problem for utilitarians, because murdering an unhappy person may maximise happiness. Presumably a maniac could will universal carnage, and thus thwart Kant.
Book Reference
Adorno/Horkheimer: 'Dialectic of Enlightenment' [Verso 1997], p.118