Skip to main content

Some Issues in Approximate and Plausible Reasoning in the Framework of a Possibility Theory-Based Approach

  • Chapter
Matters of Intelligence

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 188))

  • 385 Accesses

Abstract

This paper deals with different kinds of plausible reasoning in the framework of fuzzy set1 and possibility theories: deductive reasoning in the presence of imprecise or uncertain premises, “proximity” reasoning, default reasoning, analogical reasoning, combination of uncertain or imprecise information from different sources. The modeling of the relative importance and of the mutual dependency of different preconditions with respect to a conclusion is examined. All the issues are discussed from a knowledge engineering point of view.2

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. A fuzzy set is used here as a set or subset with unsharp boundaries. In a fuzzy set, the transition between membership and non-membership is gradual rather than abrupt. The concept of a fuzzy set was introduced by L. A. Zadeh, 1965. Many words in natural languages have a fuzzy meaning and express fuzzy properties.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Knowledge engineering is defined here as the applied branch of artificial intelligence aiming to mechanize a part of human reasoning and to process expert and task-oriented knowledge on computers.

    Google Scholar 

  3. L. A. Zadeh, “Fuzzy sets as a basis for a theory of possibility,” Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 1, 3–28, 1978a.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. The term possibility distribution is taken here as an assessment of [0,l]-valued degrees of possibility to a set of alternatives. A fuzzy set is represented by a characteristic function which assesses a degree of membership to each element. This membership function may be viewed as a possibility distribution restricting the possible values of a variable known to take its value in the fuzzy set.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Zadeh, 1978a

    Google Scholar 

  6. R. R. Yager, “A foundation for a theory of possibility”, J. Cybernetics, 10, 177–204, 1980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. D. Dubois and H. Prade, “On several representations of an uncertain body of evidence,” in: Fuzzy information and decision processes, M. M. Gupta and E. Sanchez, eds., North-Holland, 167–181, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Modus ponens is a rule of detachment in logic which enables us to conclude that q is true provided that both “p implies q” and p are true.

    Google Scholar 

  9. P. H. Winston, “Learning and reasoning by analogy,” Communications of the A.C.M., 23, 689–703, 1980

    Google Scholar 

  10. J. McDermott, “Learning to use analogies,” Proc. 6th Int. Joint Conf. Artificial Intelligence, Tokyo, August, 568–576, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  11. H. Farreny and H. Prade, “About flexible matching and its use in analogical reasoning,” Proc. European Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, Orsay, July, 43–47, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  12. H. Prade, Analogie et flou, BUSEFAL n°18 (L.S.I., Univ. P. Sabatier, Toulouse), 83–91, 1984a.

    Google Scholar 

  13. L. A. Zadeh, “PRUF: A meaning representation language for natural languages,” Int. J. Man-Machine Studies, 10, 395–460, 1978b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. M. Cayrol, H. Farreny and H. Prade, “Fuzzy. pattern matching,” Kybernetes, 11, 103–116, 1982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Farreny and Prade, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Zadeh, 1978b.

    Google Scholar 

  17. H. Prade, “Modal semantics and fuzzy set theory,” in Fuzzy Set and Possibility Theory: Recent Developments, R. R. Yager, ed., Pergamon Press, 232–246, 1982

    Google Scholar 

  18. Cayrol et al, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  19. E. Chouraqui, “Construction of a model for reasoning by analogy,” Proc. European Conference Artificial Intelligence, Orsay, July, 48–53, 1982

    Google Scholar 

  20. L. Bourelly, E. Chouraqui, and M. Ricard, “Formalization of an approximate reasoning: the analogical reasoning,” Proc. of the IFAC Int. Symposium on Fuzzy Information, Knowledge Representation and Decision Analysis, Marseille, July, 135–141, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  21. L. A. Zadeh, “A theory of approximate reasoning,” Machine Intelligence, 9, J. E. Hayes, D. Michie, and L.I. Mikulich, eds., Wiley, 149–194, 1979b.

    Google Scholar 

  22. D. Dubois and H. Prade, “Fuzzy logics and the generalized modus ponens revisited,” Cybernetics and Systems, 15, n° 3–4, 293–331, 1984b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Zadeh, 1979b.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Dubois and Prade, 1984b.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Zadeh, 1979b.

    Google Scholar 

  26. H. Prade, “A synthetic view of approximate reasoning techniques,” Proc. 8th Int. Joint Conf. Artificial Intelligence, Karlsruhe, 130–136, 1983a.

    Google Scholar 

  27. H. Prade, “A computational approach to approximate and plausible reasoning, with applications to expert systems,” IEEE Trans. Patt. Analysis and Mach. Intell., 7, 260–283, 1985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. a preliminary version was presented at the Tutorial Session preceding the IFAC Symp. Fuzzy Information, Knowledge Representation and Decision Analysis, Marseille, July, 1983 (b).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Dubois and Prade, 1984b.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Modus tollens is a rule of detachment in logic which enables us to conclude that p is false provided that “p implies q” is true and q is false.

    Google Scholar 

  31. D. Dubois and H. Prade, “On distances between fuzzy points and their use for plausible reasoning,” Proc. IEEE Int. Canf. on Cybernetics and Society, Bombay, New Delhi, 300–303, 1983

    Google Scholar 

  32. A word is said to be the antonym of another if the meanings of these two words are opposite. For instance, “old” and “young” are antonym properties. Note that the logical negation of a property is in general less specific than the antonym one, indeed, a person who is not old, is not necessarily young; the person may be middle-aged.

    Google Scholar 

  33. R. Reiter, “A logic for default reasoning,” Artificial Intelligence, 13, 81–132, 1980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. L. A. Zadeh, “Linguistic variables, approximate reasoning and dispositions,” Med. Inform., 8, 173–186, 1983a;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. L. A. Zadeh, “A theory of commonsense knowledge,” in Aspects of Vagueness, H. J. Skala, S. Termini, E. Trillas, eds., D. Reidel Pub. Comp., 257–295, 1984.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  36. H. Prade, 1983b

    Google Scholar 

  37. H. Prade, “A simple inference technique for dealing with uncertain facts in terms of.possibility,” Kybernetes, 15, 1986. Presented at the Symposium on Fuzzy Information in Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research, Cambridge, United Kingston, 1984b.

    Google Scholar 

  38. H. Farreny and H. Prade, “A possibility theory-based approach to default and inexact reasoning,” Proc. Colloq. Inter. Intelligence Artificielle, Marseille, Oct. 24–27, 1984

    Google Scholar 

  39. Computers and Artificial Intelligence, 4, 125–136, Bratislava, 1985

    Google Scholar 

  40. D. Dubois and H. Prade, “The management of uncertainty in expert systems: the possibilitistic approach,” Proc. 10th Triennial IFORS Conf., Washington, D. C., J. P. Brams, ed., North-Holland, 949–964, 1984a.

    Google Scholar 

  41. L. A. Zadeh, “On the validity of Dempster’s rule of combination of evidence,” Memo UCB/ERL M79/24, University of California, Berkeley, 1979a.

    Google Scholar 

  42. G. Shafer, A mathematical theory of evidence, Princeton University Press, 1976;

    Google Scholar 

  43. Dubois and Prade, 1982 and H. Prade, 1983b for further discussions.

    Google Scholar 

  44. L. A. Zadeh, “A computational approach to fuzzy quantifiers in natural languages,” Computers and Mathematics with Applications, 9, 149–184, 1983b;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. L. A. Zadeh, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  46. R. Reiter and G. Criscuolo, “Some representational issues in default reasoning,” Computers and Mathematics with Applications, 9, 15–27, 1983;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. J. Doyle, “Methodological simplicity in expert system construction: the case of judgments and reasoned assumptions,” The A. I. Magazine, Summer, 39–43, 1983, for further discussions.

    Google Scholar 

  48. R. R. Yager, “Approximate reasoning as a basis for rule based expert systems,” IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, Cybernetics, 14, 636–642, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  49. H. Prade, “A fuzzy set-based approach to analogical, default and other kinds of plausible reasoning,” Proc. 6th Int. Congo on Cybernetics and Systems, Paris, 187–192, 1984c.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Discussions on the use of these approaches and related ones in expert systems can be found in R. Martin-Clouaire and H. Prade, “On the problems of representation and propagation of uncertainty in expert systems,” Int. J. of Man-Machine Studies, 22, 1985

    Google Scholar 

  51. D. Dubois and H. Prade, 1984a

    Google Scholar 

  52. H. Prade, 1983(a)

    Google Scholar 

  53. L. A. Zadeh, “The role of fuzzy logic in the management of uncertainty in expert systems”, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 11, 199–228, 1983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1987 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Prade, H. (1987). Some Issues in Approximate and Plausible Reasoning in the Framework of a Possibility Theory-Based Approach. In: Vaina, L.M. (eds) Matters of Intelligence. Synthese Library, vol 188. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3833-5_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3833-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8206-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3833-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics