Higher-Order Modal Logics: Automation and Applications

Abstract

These are the lecture notes of a tutorial on higher-order modal logics held at the 11th Reasoning Web Summer School. After defining the syntax and (possible worlds) semantics of some higher-order modal logics, we show that they can be embedded into classical higher-order logic by systematically lifting the types of propositions, making them depend on a new atomic type for possible worlds. This approach allows several well-established automated and interactive reasoning tools for classical higher-order logic to be applied also to modal higher-order logic problems. Moreover, also meta reasoning about the embedded modal logics becomes possible. Finally, we illustrate how our approach can be useful for reasoning with web logics and expressive ontologies, and we also sketch a possible solution for handling inconsistent data.