Chisholm's paradox and conditional oughts

摘要

Since it was presented in 1963, Chisholm's paradox has attracted constant attention in the deontic logic literature, but without the emergence of any definitive solution. We claim this is due to its having no single solution. The paradox actually presents many challenges to the formalization of deontic statements, including (i) context-sensitivity of unconditional oughts, (ii) formalizing conditional oughts, and (iii) distinguishing generic from non-generic oughts. Using the practical interpretation of 'ought' as a guideline, we propose a linguistically motivated logical solution to each of these problems, and explain the relation of the solution to the problem of contrary-to-duty obligations.