New Foundations for Imperative Logic

FAIN: FT-248851-16

Peter B. M. Vranas
University of Wisconsin, Madison (Madison, WI 53715-1218)

A book-length study on imperative logic.
 

Standard logic deals with statements, like “the door is open,” not with imperatives, like “open the door”. Just as statements follow from other statements (e.g., “the door is open” follows from “the door and the window are open”), imperatives follow from other imperatives (e.g., “open the door” follows from “open both the door and the window”). In standard logic, a conclusion follows from a premise if the truth of the premise guarantees the truth of the conclusion. In imperative logic, one cannot say this, since imperatives cannot be true or false. So what is it for an imperative conclusion to follow from an imperative premise? In a series of publications, I have proven several theorems which provide a novel answer to this question. My project is to make these results more widely accessible by organizing them into a book. This project is important because logic deals with the foundations of correct reasoning, and correct reasoning is essential in every field, including the humanities.