The epistemic basis of defeasible reasoning |
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Authors: | Robert L. Causey |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712-1180, TX, USA;(2) Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712-1180, TX, USA |
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Abstract: | This article argues that: (i) Defeasible reasoning is the use of distinctive procedures for belief revision when new evidence or new authoritative judgment is interpolated into a system of beliefs about an application domain. (ii) These procedures can be explicated and implemented using standard higher-order logic combined with epistemic assumptions about the system of beliefs. The procedures mentioned in (i) depend on the explication in (ii), which is largely described in terms of a Prolog program, EVID, which implements a system for interactive, defeasible reasoning when combined with an application knowledge base. It is shown that defeasible reasoning depends on a meta-level Closed World Assumption applied to the relationship between supporting evidence and a defeasible conclusion based on this evidence. Thesis (i) is then further defended by showing that the EVID explication of defeasible reasoning has sufficient representational power to cover a wide variety of practical applications of defeasible reasoning, especially in the context of decision making. |
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Keywords: | Defeasible reasoning default reasoning nonmonotonic reasoning epistemology closed world assumption |
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