Opałek and Ross on Directives and Norms: A Comparative Study

In his monograph Z teorii dyrektyw i norm [From the Theory of Directives and Norms] (1974) Kazimierz Opałek, apart from other issues, analyzes directives, optatives and evaluative statements as utterances belonging to the directive discourse and deals with a question of the logical-semantic status of the utterances. Opałek’s main critique concerns the logical-semantic status of the topic – the concept introduced by Alf Ross. Opałek demonstrates that directives cannot be represented by Ross’s formula: ‘d(T)’ (where d stands for the directive operator and T represents the neutral phrase, called ‘topic’). Polish legal theorist claims that the correct symbolic formula for directive structure is: ‘D(ut p)’. Such a formula for directive contains, besides the directive operator D, a sentence in a subjunctive mood, introduced by the ut- or utinam- connective clause.