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Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence

EPIA 1993: Progress in Artificial Intelligence pp 77–92Cite as

Inheritance in a hierarchy of theories

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 727))

Abstract

This paper1 contains a proposal for a knowledge representation formalism based on a taxonomy of theories. It aims at clarifying the notions of inheritance and dependency among properties and classes, which are mixed together in the “inheritance networks” formalism, while also providing more expressiveness.

A model-theoretic semantics in terms of sets of individuals is presented, which is parametric on the characterization of specificity. The case most thoroughly presented is rule inheritance which builds on the assumption that only facts have the force to impose overriding. A double denotation for classes, corresponding to two nested sets, is the key for interpreting defaults and exceptions.

The problem of ambiguity propagation in the resulting system is addressed in the context of a discussion of the relationship between it and inheritance nets.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Informática, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, P-2825, Monte da Caparica, Portugal

    Gabriel David & António Porto

Authors
  1. Gabriel David
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  2. António Porto
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Editor information

Miguel Filgueiras Luís Damas

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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David, G., Porto, A. (1993). Inheritance in a hierarchy of theories. In: Filgueiras, M., Damas, L. (eds) Progress in Artificial Intelligence. EPIA 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 727. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-57287-2_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-57287-2_39

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-57287-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48036-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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