Artificial Intelligence, Logic, and Formalising Common Sense

Chapter 4 Artificial Intelligence, Logic, and Formalising Common Sense John McCarthy, John McCarthySearch for more papers by this author John McCarthy, John McCarthySearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Silvio Carta, Silvio CartaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 May 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119815075.ch6 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract This chapter is about the relations among artificial intelligence (AI), mathematical logic, and the formalisation of common-sense knowledge and reasoning. Common-sense knowledge includes the basic facts about events (including actions) and their effects, facts about knowledge and how it is obtained, facts about beliefs and desires. One path to human-level AI uses mathematical logic to formalise common-sense knowledge in such a way that common-sense problems can be solved by logical reasoning. It seems that fourth-level systems require extensions to mathematical logic. One kind of extension is formalised nonmonotonic reasoning, first proposed in the late 1970s. McCarthy discusses several formalisations, proposing those based on nonmonotonic reasoning as improvements of earlier ones. The project of formalising common-sense knowledge and reasoning raises many new considerations in epistemology and also in extending logic. Biography Original publication details: McCarthy, John. ( 1989 ). Artificial intelligence, logic and formalizing common sense. In: Thomason R.H. (eds.), Philosophical Logic and Artificial Intelligence . Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 161–190. © Kluwer Academic Publishers 1989. © Springer Nature doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2448-2_6 Reproduced with permission from Springer Nature Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design RelatedInformation