Argumentation Systems


Argumentation Systems




Argumentation systems aim to reflect how human argumentation uses conflicting information to construct and analyse arguments. So argumentaiton systems involve identifying arguments and counterarguments relevant to an issue (e.g. What are the pros and cons for the safety of mobile phones for children?). Argumentation systems may also involve weighing, comparing, or evaluating arguments (e.g. What sense can we make of the arguments concerning mobile phones for children?) and they may involve drawing conclusions (e.g. A parent answering the question ``Are mobile phones safe for my children?"). In addition, argumentation system may involve convincing an audience (e.g. A politician making the case that mobile phones should be banned for children because the risk of radiation damage is too great). Logic-based formalizations of argumentation have been extensively studied, and some basic principles have been established. These formalizations assume a set of formulae and then exhaustively lay out arguments and counterarguments, where a counterargument either rebuts (i.e. negates the claim of the argument) or undercuts (i.e. negates the support of the argument). Recent developments of argumentation systems includes taking rhetorical issues into account.


  • A Hunter (2008) Reasoning about the appropriateness of proponents for arguments, Proceedings of the 23rd AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'08), MIT Press (in press).


  • Ph Besnard and A Hunter (2008) Elements of Argumentation MIT Press.


  • E Black and A Hunter (2008) Using enthymemes in an inquiry dialogue system, Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS'08), ACM Press.


  • V Efstathiou and A Hunter (2008) Algorithms for effective argumentation in classical propositional logic, Proceedings of the International Symosium on Foundations of Information and Knowledge Systems (FOIKS'08), LNCS, Springer.


  • V Efstathiou and A Hunter (2008) Focused search for arguments from propositional knowledge, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA'08), IOS Press.


  • N Mann and A Hunter (2008) Argumentation using temporal knowledge, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA'08), IOS Press.


  • A Hunter (2007) Real arguments are approximate arguments, Proc. of the 22nd AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'07), MIT Press, pages 66-71, MIT Press.


  • E Black and A Hunter (2007) A generative inquiry dialogue system, Proceedings of the Sixth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS'07), IEEE Press.


  • M Williams and A Hunter (2007) Harnessing ontologies for argument-based decision-making in breast cancer, Proceedings of the International Conference on Tools with AI (ICTAI'07), IEEE Press.

  • Ph Besnard and A Hunter (2006) Knowledgebase compilation for efficient logical argumentation, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Knowledge Representation (KR'06), AAAI Press, pages 123-133.


  • A Hunter (2006) Contouring of knowledge for intelligent searching for arguments, Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI'06), IOS Press.


  • A Hunter (2006) Approximate arguments for efficiency in logical argumentation, Proceedings of the International Workshop in Non-monotonic Reasoning (NMR'06).


  • Ph Besnard and A Hunter (2005) Practical first-order argumentation, Proc. of the 20th American National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'2005), pages 590-595, MIT Press.


  • A Hunter (2005) Presentation of arguments and counterarguments for tentative scientific knowledge, Argumentation in Multi-agent Systems, LNCS, Springer, LNCS 4049, pages 245-263.


  • A Hunter (2004) Making argumentation more believable, Proc. of the 19th American National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'2004), pages 269-274, MIT Press.


  • A Hunter (2004) Towards higher impact argumentation, Proc. of the 19th American National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'2004), pages 275-280, MIT Press.


  • Ph Besnard and A Hunter (2001) A logic-based theory of deductive arguments Artificial Intelligence, 128:203-235.


  • Ph Besnard and A Hunter (2000) Towards a logic-based theory of argumentation in the Proceedings of the 17th American National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'2000), pages 411 - 416, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-51112-6.