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Modality, Si! Modal Logic, No!

This paper argues that there are better ways, especially for AI, of treating modalities than any kind of modal logic. It appeared in Studia Logica, volume 59, 1997.

This paper argues that there are better ways, especially for AI, of treating modalities than any kind of modal logic. It appeared in Studia Logica, volume 59, 1997.

Modality is important for logical AI. An agent must reason about what it or other agents know, believe, want, intend or owe [him] a choice. Referentially opaque modalities are needed and must be formalized correctly. Modal logics are sometimes decidable---an important virtue. Unfortunately, modal logics seem too limited for many important purposes. This article contains examples of uses of modality for which modal logic seems inadequate.

I have no proof that modal logic is inadequate, so I hope modal logicians will take the examples as challenges.

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