Abductive generalization and specialization

Chiaki Sakama

Peter A. Flach and Antonis C. Kakas (eds.), Abduction and Induction - Essays on their Relation and Integration, Kluwer Academic, pages 253-265, 2000

Abstract

This paper introduces new techniques called abductive generalization and abductive specialization in definite Horn theories. Abductive generalization enables us to abduce not only specific facts but general rules accounting for positive observations. It is achieved by computing abductive explanations and extending a knowledge base with generalized explanations. On the other hand, abductive specialization refines a knowledge base to recover consistency wrt negative observations. It is done by abductively finding the sources of inconsistency and specializing a knowledge base with additional abductive hypotheses. A unique feature of these procedures is that they compute inductive generalization and specialization through abduction. The proposed techniques introduce learning ability to abduction and also realize efficient computation of induction.


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