Abstract
We explore some connections between the technique of circumscription in artificial intelligence and the notion of implicit definition in mathematical logic. Implicit definition can be taken as the informal intent, but not necessarily the formal result, of circumscription. This raises some questions for logical theory and suggests some implications for artificial intelligence practice. The principal implication is that when circumscription ‘works’ its conclusions can be explicitly described.
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Doyle, J. Circumscription and implicit definability. J Autom Reasoning 1, 391–405 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00244277
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00244277