An argument system could be viewed as a pair of a set of argument and a binary attack relation between arguments. The semantics of argumentation rests on the acceptability of arguments and the structure of arguments and their attack relations. While there is a relatively good understanding of the acceptability of arguments, the same can not be said about their structure and attack relations. In...

Although reasoning about what is the case has been the historic focus of logic, reasoning about what should be done is an equally important capacity for an intelligent agent. Reasoning about what to do in a given situation termed practical reasoning in the philosophical literature has important differences from reasoning about what is the case. The acceptability of an argument for an action tur...

This paper starts from an assumption defended in the author’s previous work. This is that distinctively-human flexible and creative theoretical thinking can be explained in terms of the interactions of a variety of modular systems, with the addition of just a few a-modular components and dispositions. On the basis of that assumption it is argued that distinctively human practical reasoning, too...

In this paper we address some limitations with proposals concerning an argumentation scheme for practical reasoning grounded on action-based alternating transition systems augmented with values. In particular, we extend the machinery to enable the proper representation of, and ability to reason with, goals. This allows the more satisfactory representation of certain critical questions, and the ...

Can there be rules of language which serve both to determine meaning and to guide speakers in ordinary linguistic usage, i.e. in the production of speech acts? We argue that the answer is no. We take the guiding function of rules to be the function of serving as reasons for actions, and the question of guidance is then considered within the framework of practical reasoning. It turns out that th...

Logic as a single, unified academic discipline does not exist today. To be a logician today, you need to train as a mathematician, philosopher or computer scientist. Not only will you need to master topics that might be peripheral to your main area of interest, but you will have less and less in common with fellow logicians working in other disciplines. Eventually you may even lose touch with t...

Practical reasoning and automated planning are strictly related as they strive to answer to the same question: “which is the best course of action for an agent?” While the first research field addressed this topic mainly from an epistemological point of view, automated planning dealt with this question for the most partfrom a heuristic or reasoning perspective. In this position paper we want to...

Douglas Walton has done extensive and valuable work on the concepts of presumption and practical reasoning. However, Walton’s attempt to model practical reasoning as presumptive is misguided. The notions of “inference” and of the burden of proof shifting back and forth between proponent and respondent are misleading and lead to counterintuitive consequences. Because the issue in practical reaso...