A multiagent systems theory of meaning based on the Habermas/ Bühler communicative action theory

Abstract

Based on J. Habermas/Bühler' Communicative Action theory we propose a novel framework that goes beyond the classical speech act theory and its intentionalistic interpretations. We introduce a comprehensive theory of meaning for communication acts assuming that the content of natural language utterances can be classified in three different domains of discourse, each one with a different type of semantic validation: the domain of objective facts, the internal or subjective domain of the sender, and the social relational domain of the sender and the receiver. Following Habermas, we introduce also a crucial shift in the agent interaction approach, focusing on the conversation control issues, on the receiver and not on the sender. We claim these two new approaches of mutiagent interactions will allow to control and manage the complex interactions among agents in open real world applications. © Springer-Verlag 2000.