Sanjay Modgil

Logic, Argument and Dialectic

VCLA hosted a talk by Sanjay Modgil

DATE:Wednesday, December 12, 2018
TIME:16:00 c.t.
VENUE:Seminar Room Gödel, Favoritenstrasse 9-11, Ground Floor, (HB EG 10)

ABSTRACT

Argumentative characterisations of logics provide a basis for formalising dialectical reasoning via dialogue. In this talk I will first review how non-monotonic logics for resolving conflicts in epistemic and practical reasoning, can be formalised in terms of the exchange of argument and counter-argument. These models of argumentation then provide a basis for dialogues in which multiple agents engage in dialectical reasoning. The preceding review will then provide a context for two challenges that I focus on in my research. Firstly, I will discuss how one can extend models of logic based argumentation to accommodate reasoning about possibly conflicting values and preferences; reasoning that is of particular importance when agents deliberate about actions with a moral or ethical dimension. Secondly, current models of argumentation do not capture modes of dialectical reasoning that are used in practice, and moreover, only yield rational outcomes under the assumption that agents are logically omniscient and so have unbounded resources. In the final part of the talk, I will review a recent new approach to argumentation that is more suited to dialectical reasoning, and is provably rational under resource bounds.

Sanjay Modgil, King’s College London

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