Deontic logic deals with obligation, permission and related normative concepts. It has become increasingly relevant for domains where it is necessary to distinguish between what is the case and what ought to be the case, in computer science (in particular AI and law, ethics), but also philosophy or linguistics.
This course will introduce three frameworks that have dominated the landscape of deontic logic: monadic deontic logic, dyadic deontic logic, and input/output (I/O) logic. They are good representative of the two main research traditions in deontic logic. It will describe their language, semantics, axiom systems, and gives soundness and completeness theorems. It will also introduce students to some of the main topics discussed in deontic logic, including reasoning about norm violation and conflicts. If time allows the course will also show how norms can be implemented in Isabelle/HOL.
The course will be based on a textbook co-written by the lecturer and Prof. Dr. van der Torre (University of Luxembourg), Introduction to Deontic Logic and Normative Systems (College Publications, UK, 2018). The textbook is freely available on the publisher's website.
The course is organized in on-line lectures and in-class exercise sessions
Blocked course over 12 days, with one lecture per day at 4 pm Vienna Time / 10 am Tufts time
Scheduled for 1-13 June 2023.
