The Varieties of Ought-Implies-Can and Deontic STIT Logic

STIT logic is a prominent framework for the analysis of multi-agent choice-making. In the available deontic extensions of STIT, the principle of Ought-implies-Can (OiC) fulfills a central role. However, in the philosophical literature a variety of alternative OiC interpretations have been proposed and discussed. This paper provides a modular framework for deontic STIT that accounts for a multitude of OiC readings. In particular, we discuss, compare, and formalize ten such readings. We provide sound and complete sequent-style calculi for all of the various STIT logics accommodating these OiC principles. We formally analyze the resulting logics and discuss how the different OiC principles are logically related. In particular, we propose an endorsement principle describing which OiC readings logically commit one to other OiC readings.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
ArXiv.org
Published
2026-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00967
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge
Type
article

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article

The Varieties of Ought-Implies-Can and Deontic STIT Logic

Kees van Berkel, Tim S. Lyon
4 citations
ArXiv.org
Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge
article

The Varieties of Ought-Implies-Can and Deontic STIT Logic

Kees van Berkel, Tim S. Lyon
article en
4 citations

Abstract

STIT logic is a prominent framework for the analysis of multi-agent choice-making. In the available deontic extensions of STIT, the principle of Ought-implies-Can (OiC) fulfills a central role. However, in the philosophical literature a variety of alternative OiC interpretations have been proposed and discussed. This paper provides a modular framework for deontic STIT that accounts for a multitude of OiC readings. In particular, we discuss, compare, and formalize ten such readings. We provide sound and complete sequent-style calculi for all of the various STIT logics accommodating these OiC principles. We formally analyze the resulting logics and discuss how the different OiC principles are logically related. In particular, we propose an endorsement principle describing which OiC readings logically commit one to other OiC readings.

ArXiv.org
Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Austrian Science Fund
Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge
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