A Lewisian taxonomy for deontic logic

0491072 - FLÚ 2019 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Svoboda, Vladimír
A Lewisian taxonomy for deontic logic.
Synthese. Roč. 195, č. 7 (2018), s. 3241-3266. ISSN 0039-7857. E-ISSN 1573-0964
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-20785S
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : deontic logic * logic of imperatives * language games * Ross paradox * free choice permission
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Impact factor: 1.262, year: 2018

Philosophers like G.H. von Wright and D. Makinson have pointed to serious challenges regarding the foundations of deontic logic. In this paper, I suggest that to deal successfully with these challenges a reconsideration of the research program of the discipline is useful. Some problems that have troubled this particular field of logical study for decades may disappear or appear more tractable if we view them from the perspective of a language game introduced by D. Lewis involving three characters: the Master, the Slave and the Kibitzer. The adoption of this perspective opens a natural approach to a new layout of the domain of deontic studies. I propose dividing deontic logic into six sub-areas which are distinguished (i) by their focus on the different idioms typical of the individual players, (ii) by conceiving the language game as either being static or as dynamic and (iii) by the aims of the logical inquiry. What kind of insights the proposed perspective provides is illustrated by an analysis of the so-called Ross paradox - a problem that has troubled deontic logic since its origins and, though it was many times pronounced solved, still keeps coming back ‘alive and kicking’.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0285154