Properties of ABA+ for Non-Monotonic Reasoning

We investigate properties of ABA+, a formalism that extends the well studied structured argumentation formalism Assumption-Based Argumentation (ABA) with a preference handling mechanism. In particular, we establish desirable properties that ABA+ semantics exhibit. These pave way to the satisfaction by ABA+ of some (arguably) desirable principles of preference handling in argumentation and nonmonotonic reasoning, as well as non-monotonic inference properties of ABA+ under various semantics.Comment: This is a revised version of the paper presented at the worksho

Does modularity undermine the pro‐emotion consensus?

There is a growing consensus that emotions contribute positively to human practical rationality. While arguments that defend this position often appeal to the modularity of emotion-generation mechanisms, these arguments are also susceptible to the criticism, e.g. by Jones (2006), that emotional modularity supports pessimism about the prospects of emotions contributing positively to practical rationality here and now. This paper aims to respond to this criticism by demonstrating how models of emotion processing can accommodate the sorts of cognitive influence required to make the pro-emotion position plausible whilst exhibiting key elements of modularity

Approximate reasoning for real-time probabilistic processes

We develop a pseudo-metric analogue of bisimulation for generalized semi-Markov processes. The kernel of this pseudo-metric corresponds to bisimulation; thus we have extended bisimulation for continuous-time probabilistic processes to a much broader class of distributions than exponential distributions. This pseudo-metric gives a useful handle on approximate reasoning in the presence of numerical information -- such as probabilities and time -- in the model. We give a fixed point characterization of the pseudo-metric. This makes available coinductive reasoning principles for reasoning about distances. We demonstrate that our approach is insensitive to potentially ad hoc articulations of distance by showing that it is intrinsic to an underlying uniformity. We provide a logical characterization of this uniformity using a real-valued modal logic. We show that several quantitative properties of interest are continuous with respect to the pseudo-metric. Thus, if two processes are metrically close, then observable quantitative properties of interest are indeed close.Comment: Preliminary version appeared in QEST 0

Thinking, Interthinking, and Technological Tools

Language use is widely regarded as an important indicator of high quality learning and reasoning ability. Yet this masks an irony: language is fundamentally a social, collaborative tool, yet despite the widespread recognition of its importance in relation to learning, the role of dialogue is undervalued in learning contexts. In this chapter we argue that to see language as only a tool for individual thought presents a limited view of its transformative power. This power, we argue, lies in the ways in which dialogue is used to interthink – that is, to think together, to build knowledge co-constructively through our shared understanding. Technology can play an important role in resourcing thinking through the provision of information, and support to provide a space to think alone. It can moreover provide significant support for learners to build shared representations together, particularly through giving learners access to a wealth of ‘given’ inter-related texts which resource the co-construction of knowledge