New Foundations for Command Logic

FAIN: FB-50184-04

Peter B. M. Vranas
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Ames, IA 50011-2000)

Statements like "the door is open", can be distinguished from commands, like "open the door." Just as we can infer one statement from another (e.g., "he did at least five pushups" follows from "he did at least ten pushups"), we can infer one command from another (e.g., "do at least five pushups" follows from "do at least ten pushups"). A central question in statement logic is what it means in general to say that one statement follows from another. This question has an agreed upon answer: statement logic is a mature and highly developed field. Command logic, by contrast, is sadly underdeveloped and in a state of confusion. I propose new foundations for command logic by defending a novel answer to its central question: what does it mean in general to say that one command follows from another?