Workshop “Argument Strength”
For the CfP for the special issue see below.
- When: November 30 - December 2, 2016
- Where: Institute of Philosophy II, Ruhr-University Bochum
Arguments vary in strength. The strength of an argument is affected by e.g. the plausibility of its premises, the nature of the link between its premises and conclusion, and the prior acceptability of the conclusion.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together experts from the fields of artificial intelligence, philosophy, logic, and argumentation theory to discuss questions related to the strength of arguments. Such questions include:
- Which factors influence the strength of an argument?
- What are the pros and cons of different formal representations of argument strength?
- How to formally model qualifiers on the conclusions of arguments?
- How does argument strength propagate when inferences are chained?
- How do arguments accrue?
- Can weaker arguments defeat and/or defend stronger arguments?
- When do more specific arguments defeat more general arguments and vice versa?
- How do formal and informal approaches to argument strength relate?
- How do preferences assigned to premises influence the evaluation of arguments?
Keynote speakers
- Gerhard Brewka (University of Leipzig):
Weighted ADFs - Dov Gabbay (Kings College, London; Ashkelon Academic College):
Distortions in argument strength generated in the reasoning of sex offenders (Research with Gadi Rozenberg, Ashkelon Academic College) - Gabriele Kern-Isberner (TU Dortmund):
A Plausibility-based Semantics for Defeasible Argumentation - Beishui Liao (Zhejiang University):
Probabilistic argumentation and its computation — A survey - Henry Prakken (Utrecht University):
Argument Strength and Probability - Leon Van Der Torre (University of Luxembourg):
On the acceptability of weighted arguments
Workshop: Abstract submission
Authors are invited to submit an abstract (500-1000 words) related to the above or any other questions on the topic of argument strength to argumentstrength2016@gmail.com by August 1, 2016.
Special Issue in IfCoLog
| Abstract registration deadline: | March 31, 2017 |
| Submission deadline: | MayApril 15, 2017 |
We invite authors to submit papers to a Special Issue on Argument Strength to be published in IfCoLog (Journal of Logics and Their Applications, College Publications). In the special issue we intend to publish original high quality contributions both on the basis of talks given at the workshop and also invite other authors to contribute.
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. Guidelines for authors can be found here where it is advised to use the LaTeX style ifcolog.cls. Preferably submissions have a length of maximal 25 pages in the layout indicated in the guide for authors. Please contact us in case you need more space. Papers can be submitted via easychair at https://easychair.org/cfp/ArgStr16-Special-Issue.
Important dates
[X]submission deadline: August 1, 2016[X]notifications: September 1, 2016[X]submission of revised abstracts: October 15, 2016[X]workshop: November 30 - December 2, 2016[ ]submission abstract for special issue: March 1, 2017[ ]submission paper for special issue: April 15, 2017
Program and Book of Abstract
The book of abstracts can be found here.
| Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Beckmanns Hof, room Shanghai | |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Registration and welcome |
| 14:00 – 15:00 | Henry Prakken |
Argument Strength and Probability  |
|
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Adam Purtee and Lenhart Schubert |
| Simple Rules for Probabilistic Common Sense Reasoning | |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Elise Bonzon, Jérôme Delobelle Sébastien Konieczny, Nicolas Maudet |
| Argumentation ranking semantics based on propagation | |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Leila Amgoud, Jonathan Ben-Naim, Dragan Doder, Srdjan Vesic |
| On the notion of compensation between number and strength of attackers in ranking-based semantics |
|
| 17:00 – 17:15 | Coffee Break |
| 17:15 – 18:15 | Gabriele Kern-Isberner |
| A Plausibility-based Semantics for Defeasible Argumentation | |
| Thursday, December 1st, 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Beckmanns Hof, room Shanghai | |
| 9:00 – 10:00 | Leon van der Torre |
| On the acceptability of weighted arguments | |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Sjur Dyrkolbotn, Truls Pedersen, Jan Broersen |
| On the possibility of rational indifference in abstract argumentation with structured arguments | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Chenwei Shi, Sonja Smets |
| Modeling the strength of arguments in dynamic epistemic probabilistic logic | |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Paweł Łupkowski, Mariusz Urbański |
| The influence of an agent’s credibility on the questioning agenda in a multi-agent environment | |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Carlo Proietti |
| Group polarization and argument strength |
|
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Roberto Confalionieri, Oliver Kutz, Tarek R. Besold, Rarael Penaloza, Daniele Porello |
| Argumentation, coherence, and blending | |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Thomas F. Gordon and Douglas Walton |
| Formalizing Balancing Arguments |
|
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Robin E Bloomfield, Kate Netkachova |
| Argument strength – an engineering perspective |
|
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | James Freeman |
| Comparative Argument Strength: A Formal Inquiry pgf |
|
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Gerhard Brewka |
| Weighted ADFs |
|
| 19:00 | Workshop dinner at Karawane |
| Friday, December 2nd, 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Beckmanns Hof, room Tokyo | |
| 9:00 – 10:00 | Dov Gabbay |
| Distortions in argument strength generated in the reasoning of sex offenders | |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Corina Andone, Florin Coman-Kund |
| The importance of argument strength in policy-making: the case of European Union directives |
|
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Leila Amgoud and Jonathan Ben-Naim |
| Axiomatic Foundations of Argument Evaluation | |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Marcin Selinger |
| Argument evaluation based on proportionality |
|
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Vlasta Sikimić |
| How specific arguments defeat general dogmas: lack of parsimony in molecular biology |
|
| 12:30 – 14:30 | Lunch break |
| (the workshop building will be closed during the lunch break due to wedding ceremonies, | |
| which we were kindly asked not to interrupt) | |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | David Godden and Frank Zenker |
A probabilistic analysis of argument cogency  |
|
| 15:00 – 15:30 | William Peden |
| The Ellsberg paradox and the weight of arguments |
|
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Gabriella Pigozzi and Leon van der Torre |
| Arguing about constitutive and regulative norms |
|
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee break |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Beishui Liao |
| Probabilistic argumentation and its computation — A survey |
Venue and how to get there
Getting from Bochum Hauptbahnhof to the Ruhr-University Bochum
From Bochum Hauptbahnhof (central station) take the U35 towards Bochum Querenburg (Hustadt) and get out at stop “Ruhr Universität”. (Ticket needed: Preisstufe A, €2,60). On weekdays the subway U35 leaves every 5 minutes and reaches the university within 9 minutes.
Getting from the U-Bahn stop “Ruhr Universität” to Beckmanns Hof
On Wednesday and Thursday (November 30 and December 1) the workshop will take place at Beckmanns Hof, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. Beckmanns Hof is located on Campus behind the Mensa. A map of the campus can be found here: campus map.
From the train station of the U-35 (“Ruhr-Universität”) go up the pedestrian bridge, turn right from the exit and walk towards the university. Your route takes you directly to the building of the university library. Keep walking till you pass the University library on your right, and continue until you reach the University “Mensa” building. Pass by the “Mensa” by walking down stairs, cross a campus street and a parking lot, and further walk down to the Beckmanns Hof.
Travel recommendations for long-distance and air travellers
Bochum Hauptbahnhof (central station) is served by ICE, IC, EC, regional and suburban trains at a high frequency. From there, you can reach the University easily by taking underground line U35 straight to the stop Ruhr-Universität. Four airports - Dortmund, Münster/Osnabrück, Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf - are within a reasonable distance of the Ruhr-Universität. Düsseldorf Airport, however, is not only the largest, but also the most easily accessed: there are direct connections between the airport and Bochum’s main train station up to eight times per hour, and the journey only takes a good half an hour.
Getting from Düsseldorf Airport to Bochum Hauptbahnhof
Upon arriving at the airport follow the signs to the DB (Deutsche Bahn) train station. Buy your train ticket to Bochum (Ticket needed: Preisstufe D, €14,60) at the airport before boarding the monorail which takes you to the train station. There are trains travelling directly to Bochum Hauptbahnhof frequently and the trip takes about 35 to 45 minutes depending on which train you take. The ticket Preisstufe D is a ticket provided by the public transportation system VRR and it is only valid in regional trains and S-Bahn. If you take an ICE, IC or EC you need a more expensive ticket for long-distant trains.
Getting from Dortmund Airport to Bochum Hauptbahnhof
Take the shuttle bus from the Airport Terminal to Holzwickede train station. From Holzwickede you take the train to Dortmund Hauptbahnhof (central station) and then change trains to Bochum Hauptbahnhof.
Accommodation
Since both the city centre and the conference venues are easy to reach from there, we advise you to take a hotel close to Bochum Hauptbahnhof.
Organizing committee
Mathieu Beirlaen,
AnneMarie Borg,
Jesse Heyninck,
Pere Pardo,
Dunja Šešelja
Christian Straßer
The workshop is organised by the Research Group on Non-monotonic Logic and Formal Argumentation at the Faculty for Philosophy II, Ruhr-University Bochum. http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/defeasible-reasoning/
The workshop is supported by the Sofja Kovalevkaja award of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research) and by the Ruhr University Research School PLUS (funded by Germany’s Excellence Initiative [DFG GSC 98/3]).