ABSTRACT
In developing a theory of valid command inference one would therefore be well advised to be prepared to dispense with the straightforward considerations regarding truth and falsity that form the mainstay of the analysis in the case of assertoric inference. A command inference is patently invalid if it is possible for all of its assertoric premisses to be true and for all of its command premisses to be terminated, and yet its command conclusion to remain unterminated. This chapter introduces the notion of patent validity, operative only in certain especially clear-cut cases, to provide clearer guidance in developing a more general theory of valid command inference. It may be remarked that the (invalid) inference is the command counterpart of the ‘paradox’ of implication. Abstracting from the inherent complexities of the notion of ‘obedience’, one might give the cognate formulation that it is impossible to obey the command premisses without acting ‘as if’ one were obeying the command conclusion.
