Making Others Believe What They Want

Abstract

We study the interplay between argumentation and belief revision within the MAS framework. When an agent uses an argument to persuade another one, he must consider not only the proposition supported by the argument, but also the overall impact of the argument on the beliefs of the addressee. Different arguments lead to different belief revisions by the addressee. We propose an approach whereby the best argument is defined as the one which is both rational and the most appealing to the addressee. Speaker S , a financial advisor, has to persuade addressee R, an investor, who desires to invest a certain amount of money (im). S has two alternative arguments in support of a proposition wd ("The dollar is weak") he wants R to believe, one based on bt → wd and one on hb → wd: A motivating example1. "The dollar is weak (wd) since the balance of trade is negative (bt), due to high import (hi)" (a = {bt → wd, hi → bt, hi} )

Dynamics of knowledge in DeLP through Argument Theory Change

“…They consider argumentation as persuasion to believe and that persuasion should be related to belief revision. More recently, (Boella et al 2008b) presented the interrelation between argumentation and belief revision on multi-agent systems. When an agent uses an argument to persuade another one, he must consider not only the proposition supported by the argument, but also the overall impact of the argument on the beliefs of the addressee.…”

On the evolving relation between Belief Revision and Argumentation

“…Although Paglieri and Castelfranchi (2006) and Boella et al (2008b) proposed related ideas considering argumentation as persuasion, the view depicted above is more general. In the end, plausible beliefs can be obtained both from argumentation processes and from belief revision processes, but both areas focus only on parts of the dynamic reasoning process while at the same time providing general and versatile frameworks.…”

“…Although Paglieri and Castelfranchi (2006) and Boella et al . (2008b) proposed related ideas considering argumentation as persuasion, the view depicted above is more general.…”

“…They also consider argumentation as persuasion to believe, so that persuasion should be related to belief revision. In Boella et al (2008b) the same authors elaborated on the previous presentation deepening the study of the interrelation between argumentation and belief revision in multi-agent systems, emphasizing that when an agent uses an argument to persuade another, she must consider not only the proposition supported by the argument, but also the overall impact of the argument on the beliefs of the addressee.…”

“…Argumentation can be used for negotiation (when the agents have conflicting interests and they try to make the best out of a deal), inquiry (when the agents have general ignorance in some subject and they try to find a proof or destroy one), deliberation (when the agents collaborate to decide what course of action to take), or information seeking (when the agents have personal ignorance on some subject and every agent seeks the answer to some questions from other agents). Although Paglieri and Castelfranchi (2006) and Boella et al (2008b) proposed related ideas considering argumentation as persuasion, the view depicted above is more general. EXAMPLE 4.…”