Four dialogue systems (Q809991)

The author presents four dialogue systems in the tradition of Ch. Hamblin. Number 1 contains (besides the apparatus of propositional logic) dialogue ``operators'' for ``questions'', ``withdrawals'' and ``resolution demands''. This system only embodies a requirement of minimal consistency. Number 2 has in addition ``operators'' for ``challenges'' and ``grounds''. This system is meant to preclude the fallacy of begging the question. Number 3 adds another ``operator'' for ``hunches''. This system tries to cope with problems of intention and of conversational implicature. The final system gives up the basic tenets of classical logic by admitting sentences to have variable meanings. As the author himself concludes, ``none of these dialogue games is adequate for any class of real-life argumentative dialogues'', but taken together the four systems are hoped to ``provide a way of identifying and describing some of the properties of communication systems relevant to the capacity of those systems to provide for argument and reasoning.''