What is a Normative Goal ?

In this paper we are interested in developing goal-based normative agen t rchitectures. We ask ourselves the question what a normative goal is. To answer this question we introduce a qualitative normative decision theory based on belief (B) and obligation (O) rules. We show that every agent which makes optim al decisions – which we call a BO rational agent – acts as if it is maximizing its achieved normative goals. This is the basis of our design of goal-based normativ e agents.