Towards a general scientific reasoning engine

Expert reasoning in the natural sciences appears to make extensive use of a relatively small number of general principles and reasoning strategies, each associated with a larger number of more specific inference patterns. Using a dual declarative hierarchy to represent strategic and factual knowledge, we analyze a framework for a robust scientific reasoning engine. It is argued that such an engine could provide (a) the ability to reason from basic principles in the absence cf directly applicable specific information, (b) principled knowledge acquisition by using existing general patterns to structure new information, and (c) congenial explanation and instruction in terms of general and familiar patterns of inference. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research an the Army Research Institute under contract number N00014-82C-50767. Jo int Computer Sc iece and Psychology technical report C.I .P # 4 4 5 Towards a General Scientific Reasoning Engine Table of