An Argumentation-Based Approach to Modeling Decision Support Contexts with What-If Capabilities

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, G. Guida

Proc. of the AAAI Fall Symposium: The Uses of Computational Argumentation, Washington, D.C., 2009, 2-7

 

Abstract

This paper describes a preliminary proposal of an argumentation-based approach to modeling articulated decision support contexts. The proposed approach encompasses a variety of argument and attack schemes aimed at representing basic knowledge and reasoning patterns for decision support. Some of the defined attack schemes involve attacks directed towards other attacks, which are not allowed in traditional argumentation frameworks but turn out to be useful as a knowledge and reasoning modeling tool: in particular, we demonstrate their use to support what-if reasoning capabilities, which are of primary importance in decision support. Formal backing to this approach is provided by the AFRA formalism, a recently proposed extension of Dung’s argumentation framework. A literature example concerning a decision problem about medical treatments is adopted to illustrate the approach.

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