The Paradoxes of Deontic Logic: The Simplest Solution to all of them in one Fell Swoop

Abstract

Deontic logic, as a discipline of study, deals with the structure of our ordinary reasoning about obligations, ought’s, interdictions, prohibitions, wrongs, rights, and freedoms to act. Thus, it is supposed to: (i) reveal and clarify the criteria for valid reasoning about those matters; (ii) illuminate and give us understanding of the logical structure of the ordinary language through which we live our experiences of obligations, requirements, wrongs, rights, etc. Consequently, a formal calculus proposed as a deontic calculus together with its primary interpretation is a theory about the logical structure of our ordinary deontic language and about our ordinary deontic reasonings. Clearly, then, such a calculus should be proposed after a careful examination of the linguistic data pertaining to our deontic experiences.

A main cause of philosophical illness — one-sided diet: one nourishes one’s thinking with only one kind of example [often a simplistic one].

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, No. 593

… the simplicity of means is balanced with the richness of effects [in the order of the universe].

G. W. Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics, 5