Resolution based decision procedures for subclasses of first-order logic

This thesis studies decidable fragments of first-order logic which are relevant to the field of nonclassical logic and knowledge representation. We show that refinements of resolution based on suitable liftable orderings provide decision procedures for the subclasses E+, K, and DK of firstorder logic. By the use of semantics-based translation methods we can embed the description logic ALB and extensions of the basic modal logic K into fragments of first-order logic. We describe various decision procedures based on ordering refinements and selection functions for these fragments and show that a polynomial simulation of tableaux-based decision procedures for these logics is possible. In the final part of the thesis we develop a benchmark suite and perform an empirical analysis of various modal theorem provers.