Skip to main content
Log in

An ontology for commitments in multiagent systems:

  • Published:
Artificial Intelligence and Law Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social commitments have long been recognized as an important concept for multiagent systems. We propose a rich formulation of social commitments that motivates an architecture for multiagent systems, which we dub spheres of commitment. We identify the key operations on commitments and multiagent systems. We distinguish between explicit and implicit commitments. Multiagent systems, viewed as spheres of commitment (SoComs), provide the context for the different operations on commitments. Armed with the above ideas, we can capture normative concepts such as obligations, taboos, conventions, and pledges as different kinds of commitments. In this manner, we synthesize ideas from multiagent systems, particularly the idea of social context, with ideas from ethics and legal reasoning, specifically that of directed obligations in the Hohfeldian tradition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alchourrón, Carlos E. & Bulygin, Eugenio (1981). The expressive conception of norms. In: (Hilpinen, 1981). 95-124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asher, Nicholas M. (1993). Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse. Kluwer, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, John L.; (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barwise, Jon (1989a). On the model theory of common knowledge. In: (Barwise, 1989b). 201-220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barwise, Jon (1989b). The Situation in Logic. Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boman, Magnus (1996). Implementing norms through normative advice. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS) Workshop on Norms, Obligations, and Conventions.

  • Castañeda, Hector-Neri (1975). Thinking and Doing: The Philosophical Foundations of Institutions. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castelfranchi, Cristiano (1995). Commitments: From individual intentions to groups and organizations. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Multiagent Systems. 41-48.

  • Chandy, K.M. & Misra, Jayadev (1986). How processes learn. Distributed Computing 1, 40-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demazeau, Yves & Müller, Jean-Pierre (eds) (1991). Decentralized Artificial Intelligence, Volume 2. Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunin-Keplicz, Barbara & Verbrugge, Rineke (1996). Collective commitments. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Multiagent Systems. 56-63.

  • Edel, Abraham (1961). Science and the structure of ethics. In: Carnap, Rudolf, & Morris, Charles (eds.) (1970). Foundations of the Unity of Science: Toward an International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, volume II. (Neurath et al., 1970). University of Chicago Press. 273-377.

  • Fagin, Ronald, Halpern, Joseph Y., Moses, Yoram & Vardi, Moshe Y. (1995). Reasoning About Knowledge. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Føllesdal, Dagfinn & Hilpinen, Risto (1971). New foundations for ethical theory. In: (Hilpinen, 1971). 1-35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, Norbert & Morignot, Philippe (1997). The reorganization of societies of autonomous agents. In: Proceedings of the 8th European Workshop on Modelling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World (MAAMAW). 98-111.

  • Goldman, Alvin I. (1970). A Theory of Human Action. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrestad, Henning & Krogh, Christen (1995). Obligations directed from bearers to counterparties. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law. 210-218.

  • Hilpinen, Risto (ed.) (1971). Deontic Logic: Introductory and Systematic Readings, volume 33 of Synthese Library. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilpinen, Risto (ed.) (1981). New Studies in Deontic Logic: Norms, Actions, and the Foundations of Ethics, volume 152 of Synthese Library. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hohfeld, Wesley Newcomb (1919). Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and other Legal Essays. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. A 1919 printing of articles from 1913.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmström, Ghita & Jones, Andrew J.I. (eds.) (1985). Action, Logic and Social Theory. Societas Philosophica Fennica, Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huhns, Michael N. & Singh, Munindar P. (eds.) (1998). Readings in Agents, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, N.R. (1993). Commitments and conventions: The foundation of coordination in multiagent systems. Knowledge Engineering Review 2(3), 223-250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanger, Stig (1971). New foundations for ethical theory. In: (Hilpinen, 1971). 36-58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanger, Stig (1985). On realization of human rights. In: Jones, Andrew J.I. (eds.) (1985). Action, Logic and Social Theory. Societas Philosophica Fennica, Helsinki (Holmström & Jones, 1985). 71-78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levesque, H.J., Cohen, P.R. & Nunes, J.T. (1990). On acting together. In: Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 94-99.

  • Morse, H. Newcomb (1995a). Hohfeld. In: (Morse, 1995b). Chapter 10, 213-245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morse, H. Newcomb (1995b). The Thinkers. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neurath, Otto, Carnap, Rudolf, & Morris, Charles (eds.) (1970). Foundations of the Unity of Science: Toward an International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, volume II. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London. Originally published as separate monographs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, William D. (1930). The Right and the Good. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, John R. (1969). Speech Acts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerberg, Krister (1971). Some logics of commitment and obligation. In: (Hilpinen, 1971). 148-158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerberg, Krister (1989). Bringing it about. Journal of Philosophical Logic 18, 327-347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sichman, Jaime Simão, Conte, Rosaria, Demazeau, Yves, & Castelfranchi, Cristiano (1994). A social reasoning mechanism based on dependence networks. In: Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 188-192. Reprinted in Huhns & Singh (1998).

  • Singh, Munindar P. (1991a). Group ability and structure. In: Müller, Jean-Pierre (eds) (1991). Decentralized Artificial Intelligence, Volume 2. Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam (Demazeau & Müller, 1991). 127-145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Munindar P. (1991b). Social and psychological commitments in multiagent systems. In: AAAI Fall Symposium on Knowledge and Action at Social and Organizational Levels. 104-106.

  • Singh, Munindar P. (1994). Multiagent Systems: A Theoretical Framework for Intentions, Know-How, and Communications. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Munindar P. (1997). Commitments among autonomous agents in information-rich environments. In: Proceedings of the 8th European Workshop on Modelling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World (MAAMAW). 141-155.

  • von Wright, Georg Henrik (1963). Norm and Action. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Wright, Georg Henrik (1968). An Essay in Deontic Logic and the General Theory of Action, volume 21 of Acta Philosophica Fennica. North-Holland, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Singh, M.P. An ontology for commitments in multiagent systems:. Artificial Intelligence and Law 7, 97–113 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008319631231

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008319631231

Navigation