Abstract
In this article we propose a role based model for the specification of organized collective agency, based on the legal concept of artificial person and on the normative perspective of organizational systems. We focus on the analysis of groups of agents (humans or not) that want to act collectively in a (more or less) permanent basis, and in a stable and organized way, as it is the typical case of organizations. We argue that in those cases such groups of agents should give rise to a new agent, that we call of institutionalized agent, with its own identity, whose structure is essentially defined through the characterization of a set of roles and whose behavior is determined by the acts of the agents that play such roles. We also present a deontic and action modal logic that captures the concept of acting in a role and relates it with the deontic notions of obligation, permission and prohibition. This logic is used in the formal specification of institutionalized agents and of societies of agents and in the rigorous analysis of them. We pay particular attention to the interaction between agents through contracts or other normative relations. A high level specification language is also suggested.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. Abadi, M. Burrows, B. Lampson, and G. Plotkin, “A calculus for access control in distributed system, ” ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, vol. 15, no.4, pp. 706–734, 1993.
N. Belnap and M. Perloff, “Seeing to it that: A canonical form for agentives, ” Theoria, vol. 54, pp. 175–199, 1989.
E. Bertino, E. Ferrari, and V. Atluri, “A flexible model for the specification and enforcement of authorizations in workflow management systems, ” in Proceedings of 2nd ACM Workshop on Role Based Access Control, 1997, pp. 1–12.
M. Brown and J. Carmo, “Report on the Third International Workshop on Deontic Logic in Computer Science, ” Knowledge Engineering Review, vol. 11, no.3, pp. 289–292, 1996.
J. Carmo and O. Pacheco, “Deontic and action logics for collective agency and roles, ” in R. Demolombe and R. Hilpinen (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Deontic Logic in Computer Science (DEON'00), ONERA-DGA: Toulouse, 2000, pp. 93–124.
J. Carmo and O. Pacheco, “Logics for modeling businesses and agents interaction, ” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Infrastructure for Electronic Business, Science and Education on the Internet, SSGRR-2000, http://www.ssgrr.it/en/ssgrr2000/proceedings.htm, l'Aquila (Italy), 2000.
J. Carmo and O. Pacheco, “Deontic and action logics for organized collective agency, modeled through institutionalized agents and roles, ” Fundamenta Informaticae, vol. 48, no.2/3, pp. 129–163, 2001.
C. Castelfranchi, “All I understand about power (and something more), ” in 2nd SARA Workshop, Lisbon, 2000.
C. Castelfranchi, “Formalising the Informal?” in R. Demolombe and R. Hilpinen (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Deontic Logic in Computer Science (DEON'00), ONERA-DGA: Toulouse, 2000, pp. 3–5.
B. J. Chellas, Modal Logic·An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 1980.
B. J. Chellas, “Time and Modality in the Logicof Agency, ” Studia Logica, vol. 51, pp. 485–517, 1992.
J. Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1990.
F. Cuppens, “Roles and deonticlogic, ” in A. J. I. Jones and M. Sergot (eds.), Proceedings of Second International Workshop on Deontic Logic in Computer Science (DEON'94), Complex 1/94 NRCCL: Oslo, 1994, pp. 86–106.
M. Gilbert, On Social Facts, Princeton University Press, 1989.
R. Hilpinen (ed.), Deontic Logic: Introductory and Systematic Readings, D. Reidel: Dordrecht, 1971.
A. J. I. Jones and M. J. Sergot, “A formal characterization of institutionalized power, ” Journal of the IGPL, vol. 4, no.3, pp. 429–445, 1996. Reprinted in E. Garzón Valdés, W. Krawietz, G. H. von Wright, and R. Zimmerling (eds.), Normative Systems in Legal and Moral Theory (Festschrift for Carlos E. Alchourrón and Eugenio Bulygin), Duncker & Humblot: Berlin, 1997, pp. 349–369.
S. Kanger, New Foundations for Ethical Theory, Stockholm, 1957. (Reprinted in [15].)
S. Kanger, “Law and logic, ” Theoria, vol. 38, 1972.
S. Kirn, “Organizational intelligence and distributed artificial intelligence, ” in G. M. P. O'Hare and N. R. Jennings (eds.), Foundations of Distributed Artificial Intelligence, John Wiley & Sons, 1996, pp. 505–526.
B. Lampson, M. Abadi, M. Burrows, and E. Wobber, “Authentication in Distributed Systems: Theory and Practice, ” ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, vol. 10, no.4, pp. 265–310, 1992.
L. Lindahl, Position and Change·A Study in Law and Logic, Synthese Library, vol. 112, D. Reidel: Dordrecht, 1977.
F. Massacci, “Reasoning about security: A logic and a decision method for role-based access control, ” in D. Gabbay et al. (eds.), Proc. of the Int. Joint Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Practical Reasoning, LNAI, vol. 1244, Springer-Verlag, 1997, pp. 421–435.
“Normatics: The characterisation of computer systems and complex organisations as normative systems, ” ESPRIT III BRA proposal, 1991.
O. Pacheco and J. Carmo, “Collective agents: From law to AI, ” in Proceedings of 2nd French-American Conferenceon Law and Artificial Intelligence, Nice, 1998. A revised version was published in “Les agents collectifs: du Droit vers l'Intelligence artificielle, ” in D. Bourcier, P. Hasset, and C. Roquilly (eds.), Droit et Intelligence artificielle·une Revolution de la Connaissance Juridique, editions Romillat, collection “Droit et Technologies, ” 2000, pp. 93–109.
H. Van D. Parunak, “Applications of distributed artificial intelligence in industry, ” in G. M. P. O'Hare and N. R. Jennings (eds.), Foundations of Distributed Artificial Intelligence, John Wiley & Sons, 1996, pp. 139–164.
I. Pörn, The Logic of Power, Blackwell: Oxford, 1970.
I. Pörn, Action Theory and Social Science: Some Formal Models, Synthese Library, vol. 120, D. Reidel: Dordrecht, 1977.
F. Santos, A. J. I. Jones, and J. Carmo, “Responsibility for action in organizations: A formal model, ” in G. Holmstrom-Hintikka and R. Tuomela (eds.), Contemporary Action Theory, vol. II (Social Action), Synthese Library, vol. 267, Kluwer, 1997, pp. 333–350.
N. Skarmeas, “Modeling organizations using roles and agents, ” in Proceedings of 5th Hellenic Conference on Informatics, Athens, 1995.
R. Tuomela, “The importance of us: a philosophical study of basic social notions, ” in Stanford Series in Philosophy, Stanford University Press, 1995.
M. Wooldridge, N. R. Jennings, and D. Kinny, “The Gaia methodology for agent-oriented analysis and design, ” Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, vol. 3, no.3, pp. 285–312, 2000.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pacheco, O., Carmo, J. A Role Based Model for the Normative Specification of Organized Collective Agency and Agents Interaction. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 6, 145–184 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021884118023
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021884118023