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Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Reasoning

LPAR 2015: Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Reasoning pp 532–548Cite as

Modelling Moral Reasoning and Ethical Responsibility with Logic Programming

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNTCS,volume 9450)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the use of high-level action languages for representing and reasoning about ethical responsibility in goal specification domains. First, we present a simplified Event Calculus formulated as a logic program under the stable model semantics in order to represent situations within Answer Set Programming. Second, we introduce a model of causality that allows us to use an answer set solver to perform reasoning over the agent’s ethical responsibility. We then extend and test this framework against the Trolley Problem and the Doctrine of Double Effect. The overarching aim of the paper is to propose a general and adaptable formal language that may be employed over a variety of ethical scenarios in which the agent’s responsibility must be examined and their choices determined. Our fundamental ambition is to displace the burden of moral reasoning from the programmer to the program itself, moving away from current computational ethics that too easily embed moral reasoning within computational engines, thereby feeding atomic answers that fail to truly represent underlying dynamics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIP6, University Pierre and Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Fiona Berreby, Gauvain Bourgne & Jean-Gabriel Ganascia

Authors
  1. Fiona Berreby
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  2. Gauvain Bourgne
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  3. Jean-Gabriel Ganascia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fiona Berreby .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. New York University, New York, New York, USA

    Martin Davis

  2. University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

    Ansgar Fehnker

  3. Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Annabelle McIver

  4. The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Andrei Voronkov

A Appendix

A Appendix

The rules ‘1{occurs(push(group3, main(2)), T), occurs(switch, T)}1:- T=0.’ and ‘:- occurs(A, T), impermissible(A, T).’ generate one stable model that corresponds to the permissible switch action.

initiates(switch, on(train, side(0)), 0).

initiates(run(train, main(0)), on(train, main(1)), 0).

initiates(run(train, side(0)), on(train, side(1)), 1).

initiates(run(train, side(1)), on(train, side(2)), 2).

initiates(run(train, side(2)), on(train, side(3)), 3).

occurs(switch, 0).

occurs(run(train, main(0)), 0).

occurs(run(train, side(0)), 1).

occurs(run(train, side(1)), 2).

occurs(run(train, side(2)), 3).

occurs(crash(group2, side(3)), 4).

overtaken(run(train, main(1)), 1).

overtaken(run(train, side(3)), 4).

prevents(switch, crash(group1, main(4))).

terminates(switch, on(train, main(0)), 0).

terminates(crash(group2, side(3)), alive(group2), 4).

terminates(crash(group2, side(3)), on(train, side(3)), 4).

permissible(switch, 0).

Disabling the second rule (‘:- occurs(A, T), impermissible(A, T).’) allows us to look at the stable model for the impermissible push action:

initiates(push(group3, main(2)), on(group3, main(2)), 0).

initiates(run(train, main(0)), on(train, main(1)), 0).

initiates(run(train, main(1)), on(train, main(2)), 1).

occurs(run(train, main(0)), 0).

occurs(push(group3, main(2)), 0).

occurs(run(train, main(1)), 1).

occurs(crash(group3, main(2)), 2).

overtaken(run(train, main(2)), 2).

prevents(crash(group3, main(2)), crash(group1, main(4))).

terminates(crash(group3, main(2)), alive(group3), 2).

terminates(crash(group3, main(2)), on(train, main(2)), 2).

impermissible(push(group3, main(2)), 0).

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Berreby, F., Bourgne, G., Ganascia, JG. (2015). Modelling Moral Reasoning and Ethical Responsibility with Logic Programming. In: Davis, M., Fehnker, A., McIver, A., Voronkov, A. (eds) Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Reasoning. LPAR 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9450. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48899-7_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48899-7_37

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