Computing and comparing semantics of programs in four-valued logics

Abstract

The different semantics that can be assigned to a logic program correspond to different assumptions made concerning the atoms whose logical values cannot be inferred from the rules. Thus, the well founded semantics corresponds to the assumption that every such atom is false, while the Kripke-Kleene semantics corresponds to the assumption that every such atom is unknown. In this paper, we propose to unify and extend this assumption-based approach by introducing parameterized semantics for logic programs. The parameter holds the value that one assumes for all atoms whose logical values cannot be inferred from the rules. We work within Belnap’s four-valued logic, and we consider the class of logic programs defined by Fitting. Following Fitting’s approach, we define a simple operator that allows us to compute the parameterized semantics, and to compare and combine semantics obtained for different values of the parameter. The semantics proposed by Fitting corresponds to the value false. We also show that our approach captures and extends the usual semantics of conventional logic programs thereby unifying their computation.