Overview

Description

COURSE DETAILS:

Selected Topics: Deontic Logic

[Note: this course is to be taught concurrently with PHIL 467W.]

Important note regarding enrollment: All seats are reserved for Philosophy Graduate students. Enrollments from other departments will be considered only upon submission of the Graduate Course Add Form, and with instructor's permission. All such enrollments will be done in or after the first week of classes.

This course provides a basic introduction to logical tools that find applications in the domain of ethics (with an emphasis on metaethics), moral theory, law, and other normative disciplines. In short, “deontic logic” is the formal logic of normative arguments. Formalization allows one to precisely systemize various beliefs and to uncover hidden paradoxes and inconsistencies among those beliefs. Suppose that we can successfully formalize a set of intuitively plausible principles regarding a set of ethical concepts and in so doing uncover an inconsistency. Deciding how best to resolve the tension requires going beyond the formal properties of the concepts in question and inquiring into the content of those concepts. That is, we need to engage with some first-order normative theorizing. For instance, what are we to do if there are different sources of value that are fundamentally incommensurable? By making it possible to treat first-order normative reasoning as a formal system, the tools we propose to examine will give us an enhanced capacity to address such subtle questions.

We will address questions about the nature of normative entailment, about criteria for the coherence of system of norms, and about idealization involved in the treatment of preferences, utility, and reasons. The introduction of such concepts and methods into ethics and metaethics is a stimulating approach that presents new challenges and opportunities. Due to the nature of the field, the course will begin with an introduction to some basic concepts and methods of modal logic. We will then move to applications to normative reasoning, including conditional obligations, conflicting obligations, supererogation, the role of chance, and (time permitting) the Hohfeldian analysis of rights.

Students are required to attend classes and participate.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Successful completion of this course will fulfill the logic requirement towards the MA degree for Philosophy graduate students.

* Acquire a working knowledge of the basic concepts of modal logic

* Develop a technical understanding of the specificity of deontic logic

* Compare the formal properties of different approaches to the logic of norms

* Improve one’s capacity to make conceptual nuances in ethics and moral philosophy

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

The core material about deontic logic per se will be delivered in class during lectures. Furthermore, a set of readings in PDF will be distributed to students.

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: