The Role of Deontic Logic in the Specification of Information Systems

In this paper we discuss the role that deontic logic plays in the specification of information systems, either because constraints on the systems directly concern norms or, and even more importantly, system constraints are considered ideal but violable (so-called `soft¿ constraints).\ud To overcome the traditional problems with deontic logic (the so-called paradoxes), we first state the importance of distinguishing between ought-to-be and ought-to-do constraints and next focus on the most severe paradox, the so-called Chisholm paradox, involving contrary-to-duty norms. We present a multi-modal extension of standard deontic logic (SDL) to represent the ought-to-be version of the Chisholm set properly. For the ought-to-do variant we employ a reduction to dynamic logic, and show how the Chisholm set can be treated adequately in this setting. Finally we discuss a way of integrating both ought-to-be and ought-to-do reasoning, enabling one to draw conclusions from ought-to-be constraints to ought-to-do ones, and show by an example the use(fulness) of this

Deontic Logic and Natural Language

There has been a recent surge of work on deontic modality within philosophy of language. This work has put the deontic logic tradition in contact with natural language semantics, resulting in significant increase in sophistication on both ends. This chapter surveys the main motivations, achievements, and prospects of this work

Substructural Logics and Pragmatic Enrichment

In this dissertation, we argue for a Pragmatic Logical Pluralism, a pluralist thesis about logic which endorses Classical, Relevant, Linear, and Ordered logic. We justify that the formal languages of these four logics are legitimate codifications of the logical vocabulary and capture legitimate senses of logical consequence. This will be justified given a particular interpretation of the four formal languages: logical consequence and conditional, disjunction, and conjunction of the four different logics codify different and legitimate senses of ‘follows from’, ‘if...then’, ‘or’ and ‘and’ which diverge in their different pragmatic enrichments. The dissertation is twofold. First, we will explore the effect that the lack of structural rules has on logical connectives, in four substructural logics, and its connection with certain pragmatic enrichments. Second, we will defend a pluralist thesis according to which pragmatics has an important role for capturing the inferential role of logical vocabulary, both of the notions of ‘follows from’ and the logical constants, although classical logic preserves truth and captures their lit- eral meaning. In sum, we defend a version of logical pluralism based on the plurality of legitimate translations from natural language to formal languages, arguing that more than one translation is legitimate for logical vocabulary, which makes it possible to adopt more than one logic.En aquesta tesi presentem el Pluralisme Lògic Pragmàtic, una tesi pluralista sobre la lògica que accepta les lògiques Clàssica, Rellevant, Lineal i Ordenada. Justifiquem que els llenguatges formals d’aquestes quatre lògiques són codificacions legítimes del vocabulari lògic i capturen sentits legítims de la conseqüència lògica. Això es justificarà donant una interpretació particular dels quatre llenguatges formals: la conseqüència lògica i el condicional, la disjunció i la conjunció de les quatre lògiques acceptades codifiquen diferents i legítims sentits de ‘si...llavors’, ‘o’ i ‘i’, que es distingeixen pels diferents enriquiments pragmàtics que codifiquen. La tesi té dos vessants. Primer, explorem l’efecte que la falta de regles estructurals té en les connectives lògiques de les quatre lògiques presentades, i la seva connexió amb certs enriquiments pragmàtics. Segon, defensem una visió pluralista segons la qual la pragmàtica juga un rol important a l’hora de capturar el rol inferencial del vocabulari lògic, tant per la noció de conseqüència lògica com per les connectives, tot i que la lògica clàssica preserva la veritat i captura el seu significat literal. En resum, defensem una versió del pluralisme lògic basat en la pluralitat de traduccions legítimes del llenguatge natural al llenguatge formal, argumentant que més d’una traducció és legítima pel vocabulari lògic, la qual cosa ens permet adoptar més d’una lògica

The Paradox of Duties to Oneself

Philosophers have long argued that duties to oneself are paradoxical, as they seem to entail an incoherent power to release oneself from obligations. I argue that self-release is possible, both as a matter of deontic logic and of metaethics

Refusing disembodiment: abortion and the paradox of reproductive rights in contemporary Italy

Employing insights from Italian sexual difference theory on law and rights, this article examines how both the text of the Italian Abortion Law of 1978 and its operation reveal the contradictions within liberal rights discourse on reproductive freedom. The Act itself contains traces of both Roman Catholic and liberal pluralist worldviews and has, since its introduction, been the site of conflict over competing notions of citizenship and legal identity. This article explores the impact of the Act's paradoxical nature on its operation against the background of the complex debates within the different strands of feminist theory in Italy over the question of reproductive freedom. From the publisher's website at: http://fty.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/2/22