Why is it wrong to lie and save yourself and endanger others?

This is a question of ethics, and one that even the most well-versed philosophers may have trouble answering.

One of the most base instincts in humans is to survive, and this may drive us to save ourselves at the expense of others. Depending on your philosophical beliefs, lying to save oneself and endanger others may be a fine course of action or totally unacceptable. 

In order to properly answer this question, we have to address...

This is a question of ethics, and one that even the most well-versed philosophers may have trouble answering.

One of the most base instincts in humans is to survive, and this may drive us to save ourselves at the expense of others. Depending on your philosophical beliefs, lying to save oneself and endanger others may be a fine course of action or totally unacceptable. 

In order to properly answer this question, we have to address a few others.

Is your life more valuable than that of others? Will your act of lying to save yourself do more good than the combined lives of those you are endangering? Famous philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that all good or proper actions contributed to the "greater good" or the benefit of all mankind. Kant would argue that it is not at all acceptable to lie to save yourself when it endangers others because it does not benefit those you are endangering.

In contrast, Utilitarian ethics might allow for lying to save oneself if the end result is the most useful. If your life is indeed more useful and valuable than those of the people you are endangering, and the end result is more useful and beneficial than an alternative, it would be permissible to lie to save yourself.

Altruism ethics holds that an individual's actions must be evaluated based on the impact it has on others. Because lying to save yourself would place others in danger, it would not be an altruistic act, even if you contributed more in your life than the sum of your peers' lives.

Most scholars of ethics (or philosophy, religion, etc) would probably say that it is not acceptable to lie to save yourself and endanger others because of the harm it does to these people, but we can consider scenarios where it might be the appropriate course of action.