Practical "Permission": Dependence, Power, and Social Commitment

The analytic enquiry of deontic modalities (obligatory, permitted, etc.) has been developed before and independently of the logic modelling of mental attitudes, of cognitive agent architecture, and of social interaction; it taken place following the blue print of non-deontic modalities (necessary; possible). We might consider this kind of approach and this use of the logic as basically anti-mentalistic: one tries to define, formalise, and to reason about obligation and permission substantially ignoring the mind of the involved agents. Thus, traditional treatment of deontic modalities is very problematic for a cognitive scientist. Let me explain why. As a cognitive scientist aimed at providing cognitive models of social relations and interactions (Conte e Castelfr), I will claim that: