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Function based reasoning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Amruth N. Kumar
Affiliation:
T.A.S., Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah NJ 07430, USA and Computer Science, 226 Bell Hall, SUNY Buffalo, NY 14260, USA, (Email: amruth @ cs.buffalo.edu)

Extract

When a mechanic troubleshoots a car, a physician narrows down a diagnosis, a designer selects from among options, or a corporation conducts a post-mortem of a venture gone wrong, the nature knowledge used is more likely than not, the same. That knowledge is “function”, though in the above scenarios it may be variously referred to as “responsibility”, “causal factor” or “missing element”. Reasoning about function is an integral part of human reasoning. It is currently attracting a lot of attention in artificial intelligence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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