A Standard System of Deontic Logic

Abstract

Not much is certain in deontic logic. There are not many theorems, in any system, which are undisputed, i.e. with regard to which one or more authors have not stated that they cannot be accepted as a rational reconstruction of normative reasoning. There is, nevertheless, a formal system on which, although it has been disputed as a whole as well as with regard to its theorems, several other systems are founded, which other systems can be regarded as extensions of the first-mentioned system. One may therefore to a certain extent rightly speak of a ‘standard system of deontic logic’. This is even more justified by the fact that alternative systems have often been developed as a reaction to this system. Every deontic logician has to determine, in one way or another, his attitude towards this standard system.