A Framework for Part-of Hierarchies in Terminological Logics

Résumé du livre

Abstract: "There is a growing recognition that part-whole hierarchies are a very general form of representation, widely used by humans in commonsense reasoning. This paper develops a terminological logic, and related inference mechanisms for representing and reasoning about composite concepts and individuals. A basic terminological logic language is extended with constructs for describing composite concepts in terms of their parts and the relationships between them. A part-of hierarchy is defined, based on the relationship of compositional inclusion. This part-of hierarchy is analogous to, but different from, the 'is-a' hierarchy. Compositional inferencing is defined as a process which infers the existence of a whole, based on the existence of the required parts, where the parts are in the necessary relationship to each other. Three stable states are defined with respect to compositional inferencing -- compositional extensions, credulous compositional extensions and skeptical compositional conclusions. This framework significantly enhances and is complementary to, knowledge representation and reasoning based on is-a hierarchies."