A More Rational View of Logic

THE AAAI PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS (the previous article, AI is the study of how to acquire and represent knowledge within a logic-like propositional formalism, and the study of how to manipulate this knowledge by use of logical operations and the rules of inference. Although we concur with many of Nils's other assertions, this propositional doctrine seems far too extreme: a lot of interesting and important AI research is done outside of the logic-and-theorem-proving paradigm.' Indeed, the view that other lines of inquiry serve only to produce tools that may be procedurally attached to an AI (logic-and-theorem-proving) architecture seems a kind of Logic Imperialism to those of us they wish to relegate to working in the procedure factories. This dismissal of other avenues of research as "not really AS' would normally be cause only for a knowing shake of the head and a small chuckle, but when such views are This paper, therefore, constitutes an initial salvo over (into?) their bow. Nils appears very concerned with establishing a unique niche for AI, and argues that the propositional representation of knowledge should be the core topic of AIin part because no other discipline claims it.