A Circumscriptive Formalization of the Qualification Problem

The qualification problem refers to the difficulty that arises in formalizing actions, because it is difficult or impossible to specify in advance all the preconditions that should hold before an action can be executed. We study the qualification problem in the setting of the situation calculus and give a simple formalization using nested abnormality theories, a formalism based on circumscription. The formalization that we present allows us to combine a solution to the frame problem with a solution to the qualification problem.

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