Abductive logic programming

Abstract

This paper is a survey and critical overview of recent work on the extension of Logic Programming to perform Abductive Reasoning (Abductive Logic Programming). It updates the earlier paper \Abductive Logic Programming " [88]. We outline the general framework of Abduction and its applications to Knowledge Assimilation and Default Reasoning � we describe the argumentation-theoretic approach to the use of abduction as an interpretation for Negation as Failure, introduced in the earlier version [88] of this paper � and we present recent work on the generalisation of the argumentation-theoretic approach to provide a framework for default reasoning in general. We also analyse the links between Abduction and Constraint Logic Programming, as well as between Abduction and the extension of Logic Programming obtained by adding a form of explicit negation. Finally we discuss the relation between Abduction and Truth Maintenance.