Practical reasoning as a generalized decision making problem

LAMSADE : Laboratoire d'analyse et modélisation de systèmes pour l'aide à la décisionInternational audienceDecision making, often viewed as a form of reasoning toward action, has been considered from different points of view. Classical decision theory, as developed by economists, has focused mainly on identifying criteria such as expected utility for comparing different alternatives. The inputs of this approach are a set of feasible atomic actions, and a function that assesses the value of their consequences when the actions are performed in a given state. One of the main practical limitation of this approach is the fact that it reduces the whole decision problem to the availability of two functions: a probability distribution and a utility function. This is why some researchers in AI have advocated the need for a different approach in which all the aspects that may be involved in a decision problem (such as the desires of an agent, the feasibility of actions, etc) are explicitly represented. Hence, BDI architectures have been developed. They take their inspiration in the work of philosophers who have advocated practical reasoning. Practical reasoning mainly deals with the adoption, filling in, and reconsideration of intentions. However, these approaches suffer from a lack of a clear formulation of decision rules that combine the above qualitative concepts to decide which action to perform. In this paper, we argue that practical reasoning is a generalized decision making problem. The basic idea is that instead of comparing atomic actions, one has to compare sets of actions. The preferred set of actions becomes the intentions of the agent. The paper presents a unified setting that benefits from the advantages of the three above-mentioned approaches (classical decision, 15 BDI, practical reasoning). More precisely, we propose a formal framework that takes as input a set of beliefs, a set of conditional desires, and a set of rules stating how desires can be achieved, and returns a consistent subset of desires as well as ways/actions for achieving them. Such actions are called intentions. Indeed, we show that these intentions are generated via some decision rules. Thus, depending on whether the agent has an optimistic or a pessimistic attitude, the set of intentions may not be the same.La prise de décision, souvent vue comme une forme de raisonnement sur les actions, a été considérée de différents points de vue. La théorie classique de la décision, développée principalement par des économistes, s’est concentrée sur l’identification et la justification de critères, tels que l’utilité espérée, pour comparer différentes alternatives. Cette approche prend en entrée un ensemble d’actions qui sont atomiques faisables, et une fonction qui évalue les conséquences de chaque action. Un trait remarquable mais aussi une limitation de cette approche est la réduction du problème de décision à la disponibilité de deux fonctions : une fonction de distribution de probabilité et une fonction d’utilité. C’est pourquoi certains chercheurs en IA ont préconisé le besoin d’une approche dans laquelle tous les aspects qui interviennent dans un problème de décision(tels que les désirs d’un agent, la faisabilité desactions, etc..) sont explicitement représentés. Dans cette perspective, des architectures BDI (Beliefs, Desires, Intentions) ont été proposées. Elles prennent leur inspiration dans le travail de philosophes sur ce que les anglo-saxons nomment practical reasoning ou le "raisonnement pratique". Le raisonnement pratique traite principalement de la pertinence au contexte, de la faisabilité et finalement des intentions retenues et exécutables. Cependant, ces approches souffrent d’un manque de formulation claire de règles de décision qui combinent les considérations ci-dessus pour décider quelle action exécuter. Dans cet article, nous montrons que le raisonnement pratique est un problème de la prise de décision généralisé. L’idée fondamentale est qu’au lieu de comparer des actions atomiques, on compare des ensembles d’actions. L’ensemble préféré d’actions devient les intentions retenues par l’un agent. Le papier présente un cadre unifié qui bénéficie des avantages des trois approches (décision classique, architectures BDI, l’idée générales du raisonnement pratique). Plus précisément, nous proposons un cadre formel qui prend en entrée un ensemble de croyances, un ensemble de désirs conditionnels, et un ensemble de règles précisant comment des désirs peuvent être réalisés, et renvoie en sortie un sous-ensemble cohérent de désirs ainsi que les actions pour les réaliser. De telles actions s’appellent les intentions. En effet,nous montrons que ces intentions sont choisies par l’intermédiaire de quelques règles de décision. Ainsi, selon que l’agent ait une attitude optimisteou pessimiste, l’ensemble des intentions peut ne pas être le même

Agent oriented programming: An overview of the framework and summary of recent research

This is a short overview of the agent-oriented programming (AOP) framework. AOP can be viewed as an specialization of object-oriented programming. The state of an agent consists of components called beliefs, choices, capabilities, commitments, and possibly others; for this reason the state of an agent is called its mental state. The mental state of agents is captured formally in an extension of standard epistemic logics: beside temporalizing the knowledge and belief operators, AOP introduces operators for commitment, choice and capability. Agents are controlled by agent programs, which include primitives for communicating with other agents. In the spirit of speech-act theory, each communication primitive is of a certain type: informing, requesting, offering, etc. This document describes these features in more detail and summarizes recent results and ongoing AOP-related work

Normative Practical Reasoning via Argumentation and Dialogue

Postprin

Design as interactions of problem framing and problem solving

This paper introduces a model of framing in design. The model takes into account a reflective nature of designing, and it is based on the interplay between two conceptually distinct knowledge sources – an explicit specification of a problem and a solution to it. The approach is novel in the former investigated aspect that is presented as a semi-formal operation of framing, i.e. interpretation of a problem using selected conceptual primitives. We argue that the interpretation of design problems lacks a similar rigorous investigation as problem solving received in both design theory and methodology. Furthermore, two design schemas of frame refinement and problem re-framing are discussed and exemplified

Weighted logics for artificial intelligence : an introductory discussion

International audienceBefore presenting the contents of the special issue, we propose a structured introductory overview of a landscape of the weighted logics (in a general sense) that can be found in the Artificial Intelligence literature, highlighting their fundamental differences and their application areas

Reappraising Always

Steven Spielberg's 1989 film Always represents one of the director's few critical and commercial disappointments. This paper examines the extent to which the film's failures are attributable to its formal, stylistic, and narrative features. The paper offers a defence of Always against specific reproaches. It also pursues more positive aims. Following Warren Buckland, the paper pinpoints organic unity as Spielberg's primary compositional principle; it tracks the development of motifs, tactics of foreshadowing, and other internal norms to demonstrate the formation of a structurally unified text; and it posits contrasts with a pertinent antecedent, A Guy Named Joe (Victor Fleming, 1943), so as to set Spielberg's artistic achievements in relief. The paper goes on to isolate some putatively troublesome manoeuvres at the film's internal level. Certain of these problematic aspects, I argue, force us to recognise that important narrative effects can be yielded by modulated deviations from organic unity. The collective aim of these arguments is to suggest that Always is apt for critical revaluation. Over this hovers a secondary objective. The paper seeks to disclaim two interrelated faults ascribed to Spielberg: a characteristic supplanting of narrative coherence by spectacle; and an indifference to subtlety and sophistication

Corporate Governance in a Market with Morality

Dunfee analyzes the implications for corporate governance of the existence of morality within consumer and capital markets. Analysis of the role of moral desires within markets represents a new way of looking at the long-standing debate concerning the social responsibility of corporations

No Rest for the Wicked? Symposium on Irene McMullin’s Existential Flourishing

Irene McMullin’s Existential Flourishing (Cambridge University Press, 2018) weaves together virtue ethics and existential phenomenology: the influence of Heidegger and Levinas, in particular, is clear throughout. This paper provides a summary of McMullin’s elegantly argued position and raises a number of possible concerns, particularly regarding the interaction of Aristotelian and Phenomenological assumptions. I focus specifically on the role of the 2nd-person perspective, on the links between exemplars and socialisation, and on the problem of those who, as Nietzsche put it, “are both evil and happy – a species on which the moralists are silent”