The logic of events

An event space is a set of instantaneous events that vary both in time and specificity. The concept of an event space provides a foundation for a logical--i.e., modular and open-approach to causal reasoning. In this article, we propose intuitively transparent axioms for event spaces. These axioms are constructive in the intuitionistic sense, and hence they can be used directly for causal reasoning in any computational logical framework that accommodates type theory. We also put the axioms in classical form and show that in this form they are adequate for the representation in terms of event trees established by Shafer (1998a) using stronger axioms. 1 Research for this article has benefited from NSF Grant SES-9819116 to the three authors and from support for Glenn Shafer by the Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences. We have also benefited from comments by Tatsiana Levina, Ross Shachter, and two referees. 2 Glenn Shafer is in the Department of Accounting and Informa...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2000
• Where: AMAI
• Authors: Glenn Shafer, Peter R. Gillett, Richard B. Scherl
• Keywords: AMAI 2000, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Logical Framework, Event Spaces, Glenn Shafer