skip to main content
10.5555/1402298.1402325acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesaamasConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Anchoring institutions in agents' attitudes: towards a logical framework for autonomous multi-agent systems

Published: 12 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a logical framework for the specification of autonomous Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). A MAS is autonomous in so far as it is capable of binding ('nomos') itself ('auto') independently of any external normative constraint specified by a designer. In particular, a MAS is autonomous if it is able to maintain its social institutions (i.e. rule-governed social practices) only by way of the agents' attitudes. In order to specify an autonomous MAS, we propose the logic AL (Acceptance Logic) in which the acceptance of a proposition by the agents qua group members (i.e. group acceptance) is introduced. Such propositions are true w.r.t. an institutional context and correspond to facts that are instituted in an attitude-dependent way (i.e. normative and institutional facts). Finally, we contend that the present approach paves the way for a foundation of legal institutions, for studying the interaction between social and legal institutions and, eventually, for understanding and modeling institutional change.

References

[1]
T. Ågotnes, W. van der Hoek, J. Rodriguez-Aguilar, C. Sierra, and M. Wooldridge. On the logic of normative systems. In M. Veloso, editor, Proceedings of IJCAI2007, California, 2007. AAAI Press.
[2]
A. Anderson. A reduction of deontic logic to alethic modal logic. Mind, 22:100--103, 1958.
[3]
G. Boella and L. Van der Torre. Regulative and constitutive norms in normative multiagent systems. In D. Dubois, A. Christopher, A. Welty, and M. Williams, editors, Proceedings of KR2004, pages 255--266. AAAI Press, 2004.
[4]
M. E. Bratman. Practical reasoning and acceptance in context. Mind, 101(401):1--15, 1992.
[5]
C. Castelfranchi. Formalising the informal? Dynamic social order, bottom-up social control, and spontaneous normative relations. Journal of Applied Logic, 1(1--2):47--92, 2003.
[6]
L. J. Cohen. An essay on belief and acceptance. Owford University Press, New York, USA, 1992.
[7]
R. Conte and C. Castelfranchi. Cognitive and social action. London University College of London Press, London, 1995.
[8]
R. Conte, C. Castelfranchi, and F. Dignum. Autonomous norm acceptance. In J. Müller, M. P. Singh, and A. S. Rao, editors, Proceedings of ATAL-98, volume 1555 of LNAI, pages 99--112. Springer-Verlag, 1999.
[9]
V. Dignum and F. Dignum. Modelling agent societies: Coordination frameworks and institutions. In P. Brazdil and A. Jorge, editors, LNAI 2258, Berlin, 2001. Springer-Verlag.
[10]
R. Fagin, J. Halpern, Y. Moses, and M. Vardi. Reasoning about Knowledge. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1995.
[11]
B. Gaudou, A. Herzig, and D. Longin. Grounding and the expression of belief. In Proceedings of KR 2006, pages 211--229. AAAI Press, 2006.
[12]
M. Gilbert. On Social Facts. Routledge, 1989.
[13]
D. Grossi. Classificatory aspects of counts-as: An analysis in modal logic. Journal of Logic and Computation, 16(5):613--643, 2006.
[14]
D. Grossi, J.-J. C. Meyer, and F. Dignum. Counts-as: Classification or constitution? An answer using modal logic. In Proceedings of DEON'06, 2006.
[15]
P. Hakli. Group beliefs and the distinction between belief and acceptance. Cognitive Systems Research, 7:286--297, 2006.
[16]
J. Hintikka. Knowledge and Belief. Cornell Uni. Press, 1962.
[17]
A. Jones and M. J. Sergot. A formal characterization institutionalised power. J. of the IGPL, 4:429--445, 1996.
[18]
H. Kelsen. Pure Theory of Law. UC Berkeley press, 1967.
[19]
E. Lagerspetz. The opposite mirrors. Kluwer, 1995.
[20]
D. Makinson. On the formal representation of rights relations. J. of Philosophical Logic, 15(4):403--425, 1986.
[21]
C. Mantzavinos, D. North, and S. Shariq. Learning, institutions, and economic performance. Perspectives on Politics, 2:75--84, 2004.
[22]
J. J. Meyer. A different approach to deontic logic: Deontic logic viewed as a variant of dynamic logic. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 29(1):109--136, 1988.
[23]
P. Noriega and C. Sierra. Electronic institutions: Future trends and challenges. In LNAI 2446, 2002. Springer.
[24]
D. North. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.
[25]
P. Pettit. Deliberative democracy and the discursive dilemma. Philosophical Issues, 11:268--99, 2001.
[26]
J. Searle. The Construction of Social Reality. The Free Press, New York, 1995.
[27]
R. Stalnaker. Inquiry. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984.
[28]
R. Tuomela. The Philosophy of Social Practices: A Collective Acceptance View. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002.
[29]
R. Tuomela. The Philosophy of Sociality. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007.

Cited By

View all
  • (2009)Towards a logical model of social agreement for agent societiesProceedings of the 5th international conference on Coordination, organizations, institutions, and norms in agent systems10.5555/1886594.1886606(147-162)Online publication date: 12-May-2009
  • (2009)Tableaux for acceptance logicProceedings of the 7th international conference on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_6(85-100)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
  • (2009)Unifying the intentional and institutional semantics of speech actsProceedings of the 7th international conference on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_5(68-84)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
  • Show More Cited By

Recommendations

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
AAMAS '08: Proceedings of the 7th international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems - Volume 2
May 2008
673 pages
ISBN:9780981738116

Sponsors

In-Cooperation

Publisher

International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

Richland, SC

Publication History

Published: 12 May 2008

Check for updates

Author Tags

  1. logics for agent systems
  2. modal logic
  3. normative systems

Qualifiers

  • Research-article

Conference

AAMAS08
Sponsor:

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,155 of 5,036 submissions, 23%

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)1
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
Reflects downloads up to 14 Feb 2025

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2009)Towards a logical model of social agreement for agent societiesProceedings of the 5th international conference on Coordination, organizations, institutions, and norms in agent systems10.5555/1886594.1886606(147-162)Online publication date: 12-May-2009
  • (2009)Tableaux for acceptance logicProceedings of the 7th international conference on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_6(85-100)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
  • (2009)Unifying the intentional and institutional semantics of speech actsProceedings of the 7th international conference on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_5(68-84)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
  • (2008)A logical account of institutionsProceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning10.5555/3031661.3031668(38-48)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2008

View Options

Login options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Figures

Tables

Media

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media