ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a logical analysis of the classic consequentialist maximizing principle, Max. Max is properly applied only when the possible consequences of a decision have been classified into mutually exclusive and exhaustive outcomes. This classification imposes two constraints on the set of possible outcomes of a decision, and these are posited as special axioms. Max and other such choice principles describe what ought or ought not to be done. Reasoning with such principles thus requires deontic logic—the logic of obligation. Axioms and a rule of a weak standard version of deontic logic are introduced, along with some of their consequences. Because decisions deal with possible outcomes and sets of possible outcomes, three additional semantic postulates are also needed. The resulting enhanced deontic logic implies some very broad theorems, instances of which figure centrally in examination of alternatives to Max in Chapter 10. Finally, a formal semantics for that enhanced logic is constructed and used to establish the joint consistency of its principles and further elucidate their meanings.
