Logics for utilitarian conditional oughts (LuCi)

Deontic logic focuses on the formal analysis of obligation, permission, and other normative concepts. It offers a rigorous framework for reasoning about what agents ought to do. However, its connection to moral theories such as utilitarianismone of the most well-known and influential ethical frameworks has not yet been examined carefully. In a nutshell, utilitarianism posits that an action is obligatory if it yields the best possible outcome. This project aims to fill in this gap by developing a logical framework that connects deontic reasoning with the principles of utilitarian ethics. By doing so, it seeks to clarify how formal structures can illuminate the relationships between different forms of utilitarianism and the principles that underlie them. Earlier logical studies have treated goodness in qualitative terms, often missing the quantitative dimension central to utilitarianism. The project abstracts away from any choice of a concept of utility. Within utilitarian theories, utility is defined via concepts such as happiness, pleasure, preference satisfaction, well-being, or other measures of value. In this project, what matters is not how utility is measured, but that it can be quantified. This foundational idea can be understood in different ways, leading to various forms of utilitarianism. Sometimes the focus is on a single actions consequences; other times, it is on what would happen if everyone followed a rule. The exact value of outcomes may be unclear, and small differences often do not matter in some contexts, though they might in others. We may also consider either the actual utility of an action or its expected utility, and utility can be adjusted for fairness or justice to better match common-sense morality. An additional nuance is defeasibilitythe idea that what is normally obligatory may be overridden in exceptional circumstances. Ignoring defeasibility, much like neglecting turbulence in physical models, can simplify reasoning but comes at the cost of realism. The goal is to develop a flexible logical framework that accommodates all these critical nuances and clarifies how different forms of utilitarianism relate and diverge from a logical point of view. The project will thus integrate, relate, and compare systems of deontic logic and ethical theories, with a focus on utilitarianism, aiming to provide deeper insights into the interplay between logical structures and ethical frameworks.