Reconciling the event calculus with the situation calculus

Abstract

In this paper, to compare the situation calculus and event calculus we formulate both as logic programs and prove properties of these by reasoning with their completions augmented with induction. We thus show that the situation calculus and event calculus imply one another. Whereas our derivation of the event calculus from the situation calculus requires the use of induction, our derivation of the situation calculus from the event calculus does not. We also show that in certain concrete applications, such as the missing car example, conclusions that seem to require the use of induction in the situation calculus can be derived without induction in the event calculus. To compare the two calculi, we need to make a number of small modifications to both. As a by-product of these modifications, the resulting calculi can be used to reason about both actual and hypothetical states of affairs, including counterfactual ones. We further show how the core axioms of both calculi can be extended to deal with domain or state constraints and certain types of ramifications. We illustrate this by examples from legislation and the blocks world.