Taking Ross's Paradox Seriously A note on the original problems of deontic logic

Abstract

It is argued that Ross's Paradox in deontic logic is a problem which should be taken seriously, and which can be given a solution which also solves some other wellknown paradoxes and the traditional problems with conditional obligation.

Normative Conflicts and The Logic of ‘Ought’

“…Danielsson [2005] presents a distribution rule that is even more stringent in its requirements of contingency 46 . The basic idea is that O ( A ∧ B ) should imply OA only when A and B are independent parts of the conjoint requirement.…”

“…38 38 For example, Jackson [1985], Jackson and Pargetter [1986], Hansson [1988; 1990; 2001], and myself [1991; 1993], and recently Danielsson [2005], amongst others. …”

The Paradoxes of Deontic Logic: Alive and Kicking

“…Aqvist [4]. 4 I use the axiomatization and names that are employed in Danielsson [8], and take the background, i.e. alphabet, language and additional rules (modus ponens, substitution into tautologies, uniform substitution) to be as usual.…”

“…Thus this paradox is not solved by Danielsson's proposal. 8 This is not necessarily blaming Danielsson's proposal for not providing a solution to a paradox he does not consider, or perhaps does not consider paradoxicalhe would, indeed, be in good company (cf. [l] p. 459).…”