Deductive and abductive argumentation based on information graphs

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an argumentation formalism that allows for both deductive and abductive argumentation, where ‘deduction’ is used as an umbrella term for both defeasible and strict ‘forward’ inference. Our formalism is based on an extended version of our previously proposed information graph (IG) formalism, which provides a precise account of the interplay between deductive and abductive inference and causal and evidential information. In the current version, we consider additional types of information such as abstractions which allow domain experts to be more expressive in stating their knowledge, where we identify and impose constraints on the types of inferences that may be performed with the different types of information. A new notion of attack is defined that captures a crucial aspect of abductive reasoning, namely that of competition between abductively inferred alternative explanations. Our argumentation formalism generates an abstract argumentation framework and thus allows arguments to be formally evaluated. We prove that instantiations of our argumentation formalism satisfy key rationality postulates.

Causal Factor Investing: Can Factor Investing Become Scientific?

“…This is an exercise in logical abduction (sometimes also called retroduction): Given the observed phenomenon, the most likely explanation is inferred by elimination among competing alternatives. Observations cannot be explained by a hypothesis more extraordinary than the observations themselves, and of various hypotheses the least extraordinary must be preferred (Wieten et al 2020). At this step, a researcher states that X and Y are associated because X causes Y , in the sense that…”

Bridging the Gap Between Informal Sense-Making Tools and Formal Systems

“…The idea of a graph-based intermediary formalism between analyses performed using informal sense-making tools and formal AI systems was first considered by us in [Wieten et al, 2018b[Wieten et al, , 2019b in the form of so-called 'argument graphs'. Based on this earlier work the IG-formalism was introduced in [Wieten et al, 2020[Wieten et al, , 2021a], which we extended to increase its expressivity in [Wieten et al, 2021b].…”

“…In Chapter 4 we present an argumentation formalism based on IGs and study formal properties of our approach. The work presented in that chapter is based on the work presented in [Wieten et al, 2020[Wieten et al, , 2021b. Based on the results of Chapter 4 we formulate an answer to research question 1a.…”