*DEON Seminar Series – opening talk by Marek Sergot* 2021 is a special year for Deontic Logic. It is the 70th anniversary of the first publication in modern deontic logic: von Wright’s ground breaking and still inspiring article from 1951. It is also the 30th anniversary of the first DEON conference held in Amsterdam in 1991. Today, deontic logic is a fast-growing field whose research agenda covers topics at the interface between computer science, linguistics, philosophy, ethics, the social sciences, and law. Among many other topics, it includes the formal study of normative multi-agent systems, of defeasible normative reasoning, of the semantics and pragmatics of normative expressions in natural language, the formal representation of rights, authorization, delegation, power, and responsibility, and the study of normative aspects of protocols for communication, negotiation and multi-agent decision making.
As representatives of the DEON community, we want to take Deontic Logic’s 70th anniversary as as an opportunity to look back at its rich history and draw lessons for the future. As a formal approach to normativity and reasoning, we believe deontic logic can play new roles as a guiding theory in some of the problems in modern AI, philosophy, law and linguistics. To investigate the role of deontic logic in the modern age further, we decided to launch an online seminar series where old ideas are explained, new ideas are explored and modern connections and applications are reflected upon. The seminars are not intended as an alternative to the biannual DEON conferences, but are complementary opportunities to keep in touch with the community and listen in or contribute to presentations and informal discussions on ongoing work. Four times per year (once every season), we will virtually gather to discuss a topic or a paper, or to listen to someone’s new results or opinions. Everyone who is interested in this wonderful area and its questions is welcome. The series-opening talk – celebrating all the anniversaries – will be given by Marek Sergot (Professor of Computational Logic, Imperial College London). *What is deontic logic for?* *Marek Sergot* *This will be a review of issues in the development of deontic logic, understood both narrowly, as the logic of obligation and permission, and more broadly as the formalisation of normative systems. The talk will be based on examples. I want to look at how they might be treated in the light of developments that have taken place over the thirty years since the first of the DEON series was held in Amsterdam in 1991. I considered calling the talk ‘Some things I have said about deontic logic that no-one paid attention to’. However, I will include things that others have said about deontic logic too. Deontic logic is a wide field; I will have to be selective about what issues are covered.* *Date and time*: October 14, 2pm – 3:30pm CET *Zoom link*: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89287004976 (Meeting ID: 892 8700 4976) *Virtual gathering*: join us for a virtual gathering on wonder.me after the talk! No registration needed, just follow this *link*: https://www.wonder.me/r?id=3536c0e5-c486-4ff2-876a-91e569f4190b. If you are interested in the upcoming events in this series, subscribe here <https://icr.uni.lu/deonticlogic/mailinglist.html>: https://icr.uni.lu/deonticlogic/mailinglist.html See you on the 14th of October, Ilaria Canavotto, Huimin Dong, and Réka Markovich DEON Seminar Series organizers ======== Guidelines of Participation ========= 1) Please MUTE your microphone during the talk, and during the Q and A unless you have been called on to ask a question. (And please do not ask questions or follow-ups in the Q and A unless you’ve been called on – i.e., no interrupting). 2) If you would like to ask a question during the Q and A, please type ‘q’ in the chat box *to the host privately*. If you have a follow-up, please type ‘follow up to X’ (where X is the person who asked the question), also *to the host privately*. 3) Please frame your questions in a constructive and collegial spirit! Many thanks in advance!
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