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Prediction is deduction but explanation is abduction. (English) Zbl 0713.68065

IJCAI 89, Proc. Int. Conf., Detroit, MI/USA 1989, 1055-1060 (1989).
[For the entire collection see Zbl 0707.68001.]
The present paper presents the abductive approach to explanation and shows how it deals with default persistence. It is argued that all causal laws should be expressed in the natural form “effect if cause”, and that any set of laws expressed in this way can be used for both forwards projection (prediction) and backwards projection (explanation). The approach is using a shortened form of Kowalski & Sergot’s Event Calculus for which the properties known to hold must have explanations in terms of events. Within this framework, the abductive approach to explanation is realized using a mechanism which is a straightforward extension of SLD- resolution. The default persistence is given by using a stratification semantics of the negation-as-failure. A prototype of the system described has been implemented in Prolog, highlighting the need for better control strategies than that provided by simple chronological backtracking.
Reviewer: N.Curteanu

MSC:

68T15 Theorem proving (deduction, resolution, etc.) (MSC2010)
68T35 Theory of languages and software systems (knowledge-based systems, expert systems, etc.) for artificial intelligence
68T99 Artificial intelligence

Citations:

Zbl 0707.68001