Marek A. Bednarczyk

Explicit Substitution into Action
A non-monotone logic for reasoning about actions and change

942

Abstract

A logic LP⁼_\sigma for reasoning about change is presented. The logic, an extension of the logic of predicates with equalitu, is based on the idea that explicit substitutions can be seen as atomic formulae describing basic change of the state of a system. The logic is substructural: non-monotone and non-commutative. Its Platonic, i.e., predicate part is governed by the additive connectives, while the identity substitution and the composition of substitutions are multiplicative truth and conjunction, respectively. Potential applications of the logic are also discussed in connection to the "Frame Problem". In particular, a logical framework is presented in which the judgments relate actions with their effects - the latter described by formulae of LP⁼_\sigma.

Keywords : Logic of predicates, explicit substitution, reasoning about action.