Freschi, E., & Dik, J. F. (2025, June 30). New sources for deontics: The Mīmāṃsā school of Sanskrit philosophy [Conference Presentation]. 17th International Conference on Deontic Logic and Normative Systems (DEON 2025), Vienna, Austria.
E192-05 - Forschungsbereich Theory and Logic E056-13 - Fachbereich LogiCS
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Date (published):
30-Jun-2025
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Event name:
17th International Conference on Deontic Logic and Normative Systems (DEON 2025)
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Event date:
1-Jul-2025 - 3-Jul-2025
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Event place:
Vienna, Austria
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Keywords:
Deontic logic; Mīmāṃsā; Sanskrit philosophy
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Abstract:
Mīmāṃsā is one of the most influential schools of Sanskrit philosophy. It focused for millennia on the Vedas, the sacred texts of what is now called “Hinduism” and primarily on the commands found in them and on their structure. It is thus a treasure trove of ideas and challenges to be explored by contemporary deontic logicians. The deontic operators of Mīmāṃsā behave significantly differently from the deontic properties that are often assumed to hold in contemporary deontic logic. For example, prescriptions and prohibitions are not mutually definable (e.g., “X is obligatory” is not tantamount to “not-X is forbidden”), and permissions are not defined as the counterpart of prohibitions (“Z is permitted” is not tantamount to “Z is not forbidden”). In contrast, Mīmāṃsā authors consider permissions to be always exceptions to previous prohibitions or negative obligations.
In the last eight years, the deontic theory of Mīmāṃsā has been formalised through a series of works, but much remains to be done to expand on all the potential inputs that Sanskrit philosophy can offer to modern deontic logic.
This tutorial is articulated in two parts. The first part will discuss the historical and philosophical aspects of the reflections on deontic concepts as articulated by Mīmāṃsā authors. We will discuss deontic paradoxes found in Mīmāṃsā sources as well as deontic paradoxes studied in con- temporary deontic logic and their possible Mīmāṃsā-inspired solutions.
The second part will explore how to transform such reflections into formulas and will explore their significance for reflections in contemporary deontic logic, and how they behave in connection with some of the most common deontic paradoxes.