Chapter 15 - Commonsense Reasoning Using Answer Set Programming

Abstract

Answer set programming is an approach to knowledge representation and reasoning. Knowledge is represented as answer set programs, and reasoning is performed by answer set solvers. Answer set programming enables default reasoning, which is required in commonsense reasoning. It supports event calculus reasoning and handles some types of event calculus formulas whose circumscription cannot be computed using predicate completion, including effect constraints, disjunctive event axioms, and definitions of compound events. We discuss the use of answer set programming for commonsense reasoning. We first describe the syntax and semantics of answer set programs. We then present the theory and practice of answer set programming for event calculus reasoning. Finally, we discuss two useful tools for answer set programming: the F2LP program and the E language. Resources are available at decreasoner.sourceforge.net/csr/ecasp/.