Contextual deontic logic: Normative agents, violations and independence (Q1861898)

The author argues for deontic logic as a tool for studying those multi-agent systems where agents have to think about the consequences of violations, by themselves or by others, of the norms of behaviour in the system. He also suggests that the best kind of deontic logic to use in such studies is his recently developed `contextual deontic logic'. This is inspired by a distinction between two different ways in which a norm may be defeasible. The norm may be valid in ordinary circumstances but not in certain exceptional (but possibly deontically neutral) ones. Or it may be valid in ideal situations but not in certain subideal (but possibly unexceptional) ones.