Abstract
Two groups of agents, \(\mathcal{G}_{1}\) and \({\mathcal{G}}_{2}\), face a moral conflict if \(\mathcal{G}_{1}\) has a moral obligation and \(\mathcal{G}_{2}\) has a moral obligation, such that these obligations cannot both be fulfilled. We study moral conflicts using a multi-agent deontic logic devised to represent reasoning about sentences like ‘In the interest of group \(\mathcal{F}\) of agents, group \(\mathcal{G}\) of agents ought to see to it that \(\phi\).’ We provide a formal language and a consequentialist semantics. An illustration of our semantics with an analysis of the Prisoner’s Dilemma follows. Next, necessary and sufficient conditions are given for (1) the possibility that a single group of agents faces a moral conflict, for (2) the possibility that two groups of agents face a moral conflict within a single moral code, and for (3) the possibility that two groups of agents face a moral conflict.
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Kooi, B., Tamminga, A. Moral Conflicts between Groups of Agents. J Philos Logic 37, 1–21 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-007-9049-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-007-9049-z