The is-ought problem
Subtitle: an investigation in philosophical logic
By: Gerhard Schurz.
Series: Trends in logic ;; v. 1
Publisher: Kluwer Academic
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Dordrecht; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 332
Subjects: Hume, David, 1711-1776; Logic; Inference; Deontic logic
Description: Can OUGHT be derived from IS? This book presents a systematic investigation of this time-honored philosophical problem by means of modern alethic-deontic predicate logic. Two comprehensive introductory chapters into the philosophical and logical foundations make the text understandable also for non-logicians ethicists, social scientists and students of philosophy. New in this study are two leitmotifs: relevance and metalogical generality.

It turns out that is-ought inferences indeed exist, but they are all irrelevant in a precise logical sense. New proof techniques allow to establish this result for very broad classes of logics. A profound philosophical investigation of the question of analytical or strongly intersubjective is-ought bridge principles supplements the logical study. The final results imply incisive limitations for the justifiability of ethics as opposed to empirical science.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-332).