Publisher's Synopsis
The need for more expressive systems of knowledge representation is not controversial although it is still debatable whether or not such systems have to be based on formal logic. In this book the author takes it as read that the formal approach is a worthy one.;The objective is to explore the development of formal languages and appropriate logics for that aspect of knowledge representation concerned with reasoning about truth and modality. Much of this work is based upon the theories of modality and truth which were developed in the period 1960-1980. There has been a great deal of activity within the logical community centred upon the development of logics of truth and modality and the objective is to bring this material to the attention of AI researchers by putting it in a context where it might be directly applicable to AI knowledge representation.;The book introduces various logics of truth and modality as part of a foundation for the construction of theories of knowledge representation. It reviews the various semantic theories of truth which seek to come to terms with the constraints imposed by the semantic and logical paradoxes and in particular the theories of Kripke, Gupta, Herzberger, Gilmore, Aczel and Feferman are discussed.
